Bingo and Smoking; Bingo or Alcohol
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 8:11 PM

Vice Squad has been trumpeting the smoking-ban induced decline in bingo for so long now that it is amazing there is any bingo left. But there is, and today the New York Times catches up to bingo/smoking ban complemetarity: "[Managers of charity bingo parlours] say smoking goes with bingo like peanut butter with jelly."

For the vice policy aficionado, however, this week's premier bingo-related story derives from Carlisle in the UK. Remember those ASBOs of questionable constitutionality (British constitutionality, that is)? One 23-year old gentleman had a history of being a troublesome drunk, so he was given an ASBO prohibiting him both from drinking and from patronising drinking establishments in Carlisle city centre. (Incidentally, the idea that a troublesome drunk can have his drinking privileges revoked is consistent both with Vice Squad's robustness principle and with John Stuart Mill's interpretation of his harm principle.) But this particular yob, er, gentleman, also enjoys a bingo hall in Carlisle. Alas, the bingo parlour is a drinking establishment (no longer a smoking establishment in England!), so the terms of his ASBO would keep him from bingo-ing. This will not stand, cried the Cumbrian magistrates, and voila, an exception was granted: he can go to the bingo hall, but he cannot drink there. (Vice Squad is touched by this act of mercy.) If the exception is abused via bingo-hall drinking or other unseemly behavior, there will be consequences to pay -- perhaps a curse will be imposed.

Vice Squad has been on the road, or at home, nodding; apologies for the interregnum.

Labels: alcohol, bingo, Britain, complementarities, licensing, Mill, robustness, smoking ban

 
British Pubs Suffering
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 10:54 PM

It's not just bingo that is being hurt by the British smoking ban. The pub industry has been weathering some hard times, no doubt worsened (to an unknown degree) by the smoking ban: "According to the British Beer and Pubs Association, the smoking ban in England and Wales combined with the credit crunch and a decline in drinking are responsible for closing pubs at their fastest rate in history – 27 a week."

Meanwhile, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, wants to raise the tax on alcoholic beverages. This has made him persona non grata at many a British pub -- the campaign to keep Mr. Darling out of pubs is being championed by some of those bloggers on the internets.

Maybe British pubs could try that theatre dodge to avoid the smoking ban? Or maybe things will soon smooth out, despite the smoking ban. There even looks to be some good news for British bingo. Photos of a spiffy (sort of) bingo parlour, including its outside smoking and gambling areas, are available here.

Labels: alcohol, bingo, Britain, smoking ban, taxes

 
Saturday Night Bingo
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 11:12 PM

Uh, I mean, blog post, this is a Saturday Night Bingo blog post.

Bingo has been having such a tough go of it, of late. The smoking ban and competition from other types of gambling are taking a toll on the industry. But bingo is resilient. In Lexington, Kentucky, a judge has ruled that smoking can take place at bingo fund-raisers, on the grounds that the organizations that sponsor the bingo (such as high school booster societies) are private clubs, and hence exempt from the county public smoking ban. The prosecutor is resilient, too. While claiming that the judge's ruling is correct, the prosecutor says that citations will continue to be issued and the resulting cases prosecuted, even as he also seeks to have the county legislation altered to take make sure that bingo smoking can be quenched. Apparently not all of the previous citations were directly overturned by the judge's ruling, so the prosecutor intends to pursue those, according to the linked article: 'We're not going to give a bunch of people a free walk here...' No, mustn't allow a free walk.

In Triana, Alabama, city officials seem OK with charity bingo, even the electronic version that can be a far cry from the traditional game. But the county sheriff (another 'no free walk' type?) has taken to sending deputies to raid Triana bingo parlours, seizing money and machines in the process. So city officials have gone to court to try to put a stop to the sheriff's activities.

Speaking of non-traditional bingo....

Labels: bingo, gambling

 
Two Successful Newspapers: The Wall Street Journal and the Bingo Bugle
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 10:22 PM

A few days ago the front page of the Wall Street Journal featured an article about the Bingo Bugle, "a 720,000-circulation monthly distributed free of charge at bingo halls and casinos around the country." The WSJ, which generally covers a different type of gambling, was said to have worldwide circulation of its daily edition of about 2 million in 2006. The WSJ is nearly 120 years old, while Bingo Bugle is a mere 28-year old stripling. Besides bingo-related news, the Bugle also offers a popular advice column, "Dear Aunt Bingo." Like all pursuits, Bingo has spawned its own jargon. Two phrases from the current on-line Dear Aunt Bingo column are "scanning and daubing skills" and "should he Bingo" -- the latter from an interesting exchange about Braille Bingo.

The loyal Vice Squad reader will know that smoking bans and competition from other forms of gambling, among other factors, have been making life tough for Bingo lately. Recent bad news: a major operator of British bingo halls is threatening to close some of them, while a pub in Hartford, Connecticut, which had been hosting what I take to be moneyless Bingo nights for many years, was forced to stop the practice when the state got wind of the games after a local newspaper ran a story on the popular entertainment. If you think that governments are inefficient, you should know that the state tax men showed up the same day the article appeared. Then again, they did manage to overlook the Bingo for the previous, oh, 15 years or so. How did Hartford survive the scourge of unstaked bar Bingo for a generation?

Labels: bingo, Britain

 
Save British "Bingo"?
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 9:55 PM

As the loyal Vice Squad reader knows, the British bingo industry is facing hard times, in part due to the smoking ban and to competition from lower-taxed forms of gambling. Also, the bingo halls do not hold the same number of slot machines that used to grace their premises. The Financial Times tells of the growing pressure to reduce the tax burden on bingo. The government is sympathetic, it seems, but are bingo's problems deeper, perhaps even reaching to the name of the game?:

...the government believes the industry faces endemic problems - including an ageing customer base and competing leisure and gambling activity - that taxation relief, on its own, cannot cure.

According to one industry analyst, bingo companies need to apply radical surgery to their industries, including rebranding the pastime in a way that sheds the "bingo" tag.

In Vice Squad news, I am back in Chicago after two vice-free days in Ann Arbor, which I want to "rebrand" as Annushka Arborka.

Labels: bingo, Britain, gambling, solipsism

 
Ringing In Another Set of Smoking Bans
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 9:52 AM

Chicago and Paris join the public smoking ban club today; in Paris, the city authorities are distributing "pocket ashtrays" so smokers won't throw their butts on the ground. (Another new law further reduces the Paris-Chicago cultural divide: dogs are now welcome to the outdoor sections of Chicago restaurants.) The Illinois smoking ban does not exempt casinos, so some fiscal authorities are already budgeting for reduced tax revenues from existing casinos -- though the plans to expand gaming in Illinois continue to develop. Fort Worth's new smoking ban does not extend to bars -- and in a last-minute alteration, bingo parlors (a Vice Squad obsession) are exempt, too. Speaking of bingo, in New York, as of January 1, you can organize a fun bingo game in a senior center without fear of imprisonment -- just don't let the players smoke.

Labels: bingo, Chicago, France, gambling, Illinois, smoking ban

 
Economies of Scale in Reverse: Bingo
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 9:49 AM

In gambling, people tend to prefer larger payouts with lower probabilities of success to similar games with the same expected return but smaller top prizes. This is a major reason why many US states have combined their Lotto games, so they can offer the larger prizes that consumers prefer. When a gambling venture starts to decline, then, it can lose attractiveness in a hurry: the initial decline results in smaller prizes, which then drive away more players, and the process continues.

Vice Squad has been following the difficult times for the Bingo industry in Britain, which is in the midst of a significant decline. Among the culprits for the changing fortunes are the smoking ban and competition from online gaming. Today's Guardian offers a wonderful article and accompanying video based on the final round of the National Bingo Callers of the Year 2007 competition. Both the article and the video are highly recommended for those interested in getting a feel for British Bingo culture.

Labels: bingo, Britain, smoking ban

 
Bingo on Board
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 4:16 AM

What diversions are there to pass the time on a US Navy warship? On the USS Kearsarge, you might play Bingo over shipboard closed-circuit television, according to this article in Stars and Stripes. You buy your gamecards in advance, and then you can play from wherever there's a tv on which you can watch the "action". There is something to be said for situating yourself close to the onboard television studio, though, because if two or more sailors achieve Bingo simultaneously, the first one to the studio wins the prize, which can range up to $50.

Is it legal for members of the US military to gamble when they are on a ship outside of the US territorial waters? I suppose so -- but you might have trouble if you are a noncommissioned or petty officer and gamble with a subordinate. The Stars and Stripes article makes a passing reference to shipboard "high stakes poker parties." Hmmm. The article also notes that special debit-style cards obviate the need to carry cash when you are on Navy vessels, even to pay your gambling losses.

Most Vice Squad Bingo fascination is with how the smoking ban has hurt British bingo halls. The latest British Bingo news is an intra-family dispute over how to split Bingo winnings -- of a cool one million pounds. This is not your grandmum's Bingo.

Labels: bingo, Britain, gambling

 
Ban Bops Bingo Biz
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 5:02 PM

Public smoking bans continue to appear to be successful policies -- for reducing gambling. Vice Squad has of late been following the travails of the British Bingo industry in the wake of the smoking ban. Those travails continue. But if we Americans think we are exempt from the sacrifice of Bingo upon the altar of a smoke-free environment, we'd better think again. Bingo in Greenville, Mississippi -- along with the charities that are supported by the mandated "donations" from Bingo halls -- is feeling the pinch of the smoking ban. What is particularly galling for the Bingoers is that Greenville's law explicitly exempts their competitors, the casinos, from the smoking ban.

Labels: bingo, Britain, casino, gambling, smoking ban

 
Gambling and Other Vices
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 9:09 PM

The British Gambling Prevalence Survey that we mentioned yesterday looked into smoking and drinking as well as gambling behavior. The unsurprising bottom line: smokers and heavy drinkers gamble more than others, and they also are more likely to be problem gamblers. For instance, 67 percent of current smokers play the National Lottery (that is, played at some point during the previous year), while only 54 percent of non-smokers play; 23 percent of smokers play slots, versus 12 percent of non-smokers. The alcohol question concerned how many drinks that the respondent consumed during their heaviest drinking day in the past week. Broadly speaking, the more they drank, the more they gambled. Of people who claimed that their largest day of consumption during the past week involved twenty or more units (! -- a unit is the amount of alcohol in a 12-ounce beer, a five ounce glass of wine, or a shot of liquor), 68 percent played the National Lottery during the previous year, while the overall percentage was 57 percent; 18 percent of these big bingers placed bets with bookmakers, versus 6 percent of the overall population.

Smokers were 3.5 times as likely to be problem gamblers than non-smokers, and heavy drinkers faced even steeper increases in problem gambling prevalence relative to their light-drinking peers.

Our old friend Bingo has some anomalous characteristics. First, unlike most forms of gambling, it is dominated by women. Second, and not anomalously, smokers are about twice as likely to play Bingo than are non-smokers -- this is about the same as with slot machine players, and helps to explain why casinos and Bingo parlours are particularly vulnerable to smoking bans. Third, Bingo participation does not appear to vary with drinking status -- about seven or eight percent of people play Bingo, whether we are talking about light drinkers or big bingers or the population at large.

Labels: addiction, alcohol, bingo, Britain, gambling, smoking

 
British Bingo Update!
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 9:19 PM

The loyal Vice Squad reader keeps asking, hey, have there been any more developments concerning the harm to the British Bingo industry from the implementation of the smoking ban? Good news: the South Wales Echo has stepped up, reporting that bingo halls have seen a revenue decline of 15 to 20 percent. The article notes that the problem isn't just that bingo playing smokers are staying home, though some are (and perhaps engaging in internet gambling); rather, it is that those who still come to the Bingo parlour don't take part in the related on-site gambling during the fifteen minute break between Bingo sessions. Fears (both for Bingo parlours and for pubs more broadly) are that the situation could worsen in the winter, when people are less willing to step outside for a smoke.

One alcohol-serving club, according to the article, has responded to the smoking ban both by installing an outdoor smoking area, and by reducing the price of beer.

Speaking of gambling in Britain, September marks the completion of the implementation of the new gambling regulations. Among other things, internet gambling providers that meet the regulatory standards can now be licensed and legally advertise on television. One Telegraph columnist, noting how major British gambling providers have not licensed their internet operations in Britain, is unimpressed:

The point of the British licence is to encourage the world's casino websites to base themselves here, where they can be diligently regulated night and day by 50 compliance managers newly recruited for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. But of the thousands of online casino operators worldwide, only a handful - 14 the last time I looked - have applied for one.

Why? Because Brown decided to tax all British-based betting and casino sites at 15 per cent of gross profits. Not surprisingly, they have chosen to be based in much lower-taxed places, eg Malta, which taxes at a very acceptable 2.5 per cent.

Ladbrokes has not signed up for a British licence, nor has William Hill, which used to be based in Curacao, but now has moved to Malta. Oh - and since Malta is in the European Economic Association, it will be allowed to advertise on television.

Labels: bingo, Britain, gambling, internet, licensing, smoking ban

 
English Smoking Ban Enforcement
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 10:30 AM

The English didn't manage to convey anyone to the Tower for violating the smoking ban, at least in its first two weeks of operations. (That's the first two weeks of the smoking ban, not of the Tower -- the Tower has been around for a few months already.) One bar owner in Blackpool was fined for not enforcing the ban, but he has pleaded not guilty. (A new indignity for Blackpool, on top of losing out on the mega-casino.) During those first two weeks of July, some 89,000 establishments saw a smoking inspector call. The inspection brigade wrote a spate of warnings and proffered some sage advice, but only the Blackpool scofflaw induced a display of their full ticket-issuing authority.

The smoking ban in Wales had about a three month start on the English ban, and some pubs and bingo halls -- it's always the bingo halls that suffer the most -- have seen significant declines in their business.

More on Blackpool's dashed-gambling-hopes malaise here; one nearby place that has just adopted gambling, of the cyber variety, is that wacky Principality of Sealand located a few miles off the British coast.

Labels: bingo, Britain, smoking ban

 
Bingo's British Travails
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 3:15 PM

Vice Squad noted some time ago that the smoking ban (already in place in Scotland, coming soon to the rest of Britain) was unwelcome from the point of view of bingo parlors. The Guardian's northern correspondent surveys the situation and finds that bingo halls might surprise you:

More than anything, bingo is good fun. My maternal grandmother used to be a regular player and would go to a bingo hall at least once a week. I never shared this passion, nor did my mother, as I wrongly assumed bingo halls would be full of pensioners. I was wrong, as it is one of those leisure pursuits that brings families together. When I went to a bingo hall recently, to write about the smoking ban, I was taken aback at how many young people were there. Young women with their friends, sisters, three generations of the same family; people who had become firm friends through their regular attendance at bingo. There were young men playing bingo with their girlfriends and they didn't look at all embarrassed.

Besides the smoking ban, bingo in Britain has to cope with the full implementation of the Gambling Act, which will increase license fees while also adding to competition from alternative forms of gambling, some of which are not taxed as heavily as bingo. A petition asking the government to protect bingo has attracted 230,000 signatures -- the Bingo Association, which was behind the petition drive, is spearheading an online campaign, too.

Labels: bingo, Britain, gambling, smoking ban, taxes

 
Smoking and Gambling....
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 11:05 PM

...they go together like, well, they go together. Every now and then there is a claim that the institution of a public smoking ban hits the indoor gambling business particularly hard -- check out a few of the linked stories from this webpage. Bingo parlors in the UK are among the latest to feel the pressure of public smoking bans: "Annual accounts released yesterday [April 30] reported pre-tax profits for Carlton Clubs was down by 62 per cent on last year, with smokers preferring to stay at home rather than face an evening without the chance to light up." The linked article reports that Carlton's figures indicate that 70 percent of regular bingo players are smokers. At least in the short-run, it appears that those who want to reduce gambling prevalence might want to lobby for smoking bans in casinos and other gambling halls.

Labels: bingo, Britain, gambling, smoking ban

 
McCain Rushes In Where Supremes Fear to Tread
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 6:58 PM

How do you know when the chairman of the US Senate's Indian Affairs Committee is launching an attack on Indian gaming? "'I don't want this hearing to be viewed as some attack on Indian gaming,' [Senator John] McCain said."

One of the main issues, it seems, is that bingo machines have evolved to where they look and act a lot like slot machines. That is a problem for states where Indian casinos are permitted to operate bingo machines, but not slot machines. And although it is not mentioned in the linked article, it is also a problem in states where Indian casinos are permitted to operate slot machines along with bingo machines. Why? You will be surprised to learn that there is a revenue angle. The pacts that such casinos sign with the states often include a provision whereby the tribes pay a per-slot-fee to the state. Federal appellate courts have ruled that bingo machines are not slot machines, and the Supreme Court has not taken up appeals -- so state gambling revenue is on the line.

Labels: bingo, gambling, Native Americans, slot machine, Supreme Court

 
Two Quick Gambling Stories
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 2:34 PM

(1) "A man scheduled to be sentenced [in New Jersey] for masterminding an illegal million-dollar investment scheme went to Las Vegas instead to play poker." He claimed he hoped to win money playing poker to make restitution to those he scammed out of $1.8 million.

(2) Bingo game raided in Utah. Utah and Hawaii do not allow any forms of gambling.

Labels: bingo, gambling, Las Vegas, poker

 
What Constitutes a Slot Machine?
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 6:38 PM

Last week I mentioned an article detailing how slot machines are designed to induce us to fill them with money. Just as the pleasure pathways in our brains evolved in a world without purified cocaine or distilled alcohol, so did they evolve without slot machines. People seem to be programmed to find intermittent reward schemes to be particularly motivating: if things always turn out good or bad, there's little reason to put forth any effort. But lots of negative feedback combined with occasional, random positive reward, can be quite reinforcing, as we "search" for what we can do to reproduce the good outcome. Such an "intermittent reward" system has been brought to a state of near perfection by the designers of slot machines, and some people succumb to gambling addiction.

But today's question is, what is the definition of a "slot machine"? The reason it matters is that Indian tribes that operate casinos have to sign agreements with the state in which they are located. The agreements detail what payments the casinos have to make to the states. A typical term in the agreement is that the casinos pay to the state a percentage of the revenue earned by slot machines. But what if you have a machine that looks and acts a lot like a slot machine, but somehow falls outside the definition? Then the revenue raised by that machine doesn't fall under the slot machine provision, and you can avoid those payments to the states.

The Supreme Court of the United States, believe it or not, was recently asked to resolve the "what is a slot machine" issue, but it declined to take it up. Here's the story from SFGate.com; here's an excerpt:

States fear Indian tribes with casinos could avoid sharing revenue with them by replacing slot machines with machines that look and play much the same but are classified differently, under recent federal court rulings.

The Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers New Mexico, has ruled that machines featuring bingo- and lottery-like games are not slots under the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. The 8th Circuit, based in St. Louis, has ruled the same.

The Bush administration, backed by nine states, had asked the Supreme Court to hear an appeal of the rulings, arguing the machines were "indistinguishable in any meaningful sense from any other slot machine along the casino wall." The Supreme Court on March 1 declined to hear the appeal.

Labels: addiction, bingo, gambling, Native Americans, slot machine, Supreme Court

 
Gambling Ring Busted!
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 9:01 AM

In some ways, Andover, Massachusetts sounds like a lovely place to retire. There don't seem to be many major issues for the Town Manager to tackle. Maybe it was the appearance of such complacency that led to an influx of dangerous retirees to Andover. Turns out that for some time now, the afternoon bridge club at the Andover Senior Center has been conducting its operations with a weekly prize of $4! Gambling taking place, right out in the open! Fortunately, the Town Manager was wise to the caper, and shut it down, as a violation of anti-gambling laws (scroll down to the Massachusetts section on the link). Citizens of Andover can now rest easily, knowing that senior citizens cannot undermine the moral fabric of Andover through their wagering. Oh, except special permits allow for cash prizes for Bingo in senior centers! Must be the mighty Bingo lobby that somehow pried an exemption out of the legislature.

Labels: bingo, gambling, policing

 
Bingo Fights Back?
- posted by Jim Leitzel @ 3:24 PM

The huge growth in legal gambling in the US in the past two decades
has been concentrated in lotteries, casinos, card rooms, and
bookmaking. Some old standbys, notably bingo and horse racing,
have been left behind in relative terms, and in some instances,
in absolute terms as well. Today's Chicago Tribune, however,
includes this article on some of the ways that church bingo is
adapting to meet the competition. Seems that the technology of
bingo is changing -- players can participate by means of a hand-held
computer, into which they punch the chosen cell. By using a computer,
a bingo-er can simultaneously play up to 216 cards at once. Some
40% of the players at Thursday night bingo at St. Barbara Catholic
Church in the Bridgeport neighborhood of Chicago now use the
computers. Nevertheless, attendance has been halved from its
peak, which apparently was reached before casino boats were
available in the Chicagoland region.

The connection between smoking and bingo also is diminishing,
apparently. One of the two bingo halls at St. Barbara has gone
non-smoking.

Labels: bingo, Chicago, gambling, smoking, smoking ban