The Bingo RenaissanceWritten by Online Bingo
Little old ladies in slippers, playing for pennies and cents in a converted community hall is no longer reality of bingo. The game has in recent years and now more than ever undergone a rebirth in its popularity and status and now looks set to boom in coming years. In UK alone, bingo comprises a total annual stake of around £1.1 billion. It’s now big business and not just for bingo halls. Customs and Excise collect around £115 million in duty incurred by bingo each year. However, sun has not always shone on bingo industry. In 1974, game seemed to hit its peak in popularity. It was widely seen as a cheap and cheerful way to provide mass entertainment. However, advent of television seemed to cripple game and its popularity fell dramatically until end of 90s. Yet for all doom and gloom, trend seems to be rising again. Numbers are holding and profits are increasing. This new surge of popularity has been partly due to vigorous marketing campaigns as executed by bingo companies. Television and literature campaigns for bingo are now being promoted in Europe and companies are attempting to reinvigorate game buy adapting and modernising some of antiquated lingo that seemed to keep it stuck to its past - 21, Key to door, lucky legs 11, etc. Bill Clinton, Elle MacPherson, Damon Hill and Jade Jagger are all regular players of game and no doubt have contributed to its popularity and rebirth. Many however disagree. To avid players, it is not glitz and glamour of game that is so appealing; it is rather warm, social aspect that seems to fire hearts of bingo players around world. For regular players, it is a safe opportunity to socialise, have fun and experience thrill of gambling whilst being surrounded and protected by a friendly atmosphere and a hopefully humorous bingo caller prevailing over all. The UK’s Chancellor Gordon Brown’s recent proposition to cut duty on bingo and replace it with a tax on operator’s income has proved popular with players and investors alike. The investment bank Lehman Brothers claim that this duty removal would increase bingo profits by 30%. However, for all celebrity icons and national edicts proclaimed on game, what is undeniable is that worldwide appeal of bingo does seem to be most prevalent amongst working class, single females. What is also interesting to note is that bingo promoters themselves are not too interested in marketing game to those who fall out of this category. Quality and not quantity seems to be name of game as far as they are concerned. They see it as more likely and realistic to entice existing players into spending a little more on their visits. The fact that so many bingo players are single females is certainly advantageous to industry, seeing as this social group is becoming more and more populous as well as wealthier and liberated.
| | ABC Closes The Door On Miss AmericaWritten by Vance Cureton
ABC wants no more to do with Miss America Pageant. So, they've dropped broadcast.The reason? Declining ratings. What a changed world it is that this announcement is not startling news. This is first time in half-a-century that pageant does not have a television commitment! Once upon a time, idea of becoming Miss America was every school girl's dream. And a sneaked glimpse of Miss America in her bathing suit was every teen-aged boy's fantasy. Er...not to mention a lot of older fella's as well. So decline of pageant into television mediocrity is a recent phenomenon. In decade of 90's pageant's ratings were decent. Certainly not equal of what they were in glory years of 50s and 60s when pageant was a broadcast that viewers of all ages did not want to miss. But more than acceptable in a divided television world of endless cable channels. Perhaps pageant has survived as long as it has on reputation, and viewing habits of an audience that has been aging each year. The shocking Vanessa Williams scandal of 1984 did not destroy pageant. Neither did Bert Park's replacement as master of ceremonies a couple of years earlier. Could any man ever equal his rendition of "There She Is Miss America?" Park's signature song in event. Vanessa Williams, notwithstanding, what has apparently done in Miss America is SEX. The easy accessibility of tawdry entertainment not only on broadcast television, but via cable, vcr tapes, cds, and downloadable product from internet. The once risque Miss America pageant has been rendered into irrelevancy. Adult beauty pageants are no longer particulary cool or hip, and as they remain on broadcast channels are now an easy target for ever zealous right-wingers who dislike women parading around half-naked on television. Zealots who knew they were overmatched during pageant's popular heyday. The Miss America Pageant is out-of-touch with America of 2000's. Just as variety show format is long-dead, these type of pageants have been on struggling for years. They are like something that belonged to an old aunt. Too precious to throw away. But not really worth trouble to bring down from attic for a new appraisal.
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