The UK bingo industry genuinely faces some very real challenges and in launching the petition has tried to involve as many clubs and players as possible, both in club and online. The Association made a request to the Downing Street web site to put the petition on there, but initially received a notice that due to the success of the Road Traffic Pricing petiton the web site had been inundated with petition requests and that there was a backlog of over five weeks waiting for approval. The Association then recieved an email stating that the petition for 'Stop Destroying Bingo' had been rejected by the Downing Street website as it was similar to an existing petition. This is not in fact the case and an appeal has been made, however, due to the backlog of requests for petitions this is unlikely to be met before the petition is closed.

2:02 PM  

That's interesting to know, and is extra information I'd not had. However, I still feel the BA hasn't done a good job, if the Downing Street petition was rejected, other more user friendly methods online could have been used.

It's also known about this for over a year now, and frankly, leaving it until a month before the ban comes into effect is still too little to late. I realise there's a challenge for all in the Bingo industry this year, but let's face it, rather than pro-actively trying to find a way to bolster the business there's been a sense of denial and inaction.

2:48 PM  

The petition is not about the smoking ban, but a number of other policies that are impacting on land bingo broadly at the same time. The industry would be able to move forward and cope with the impact of an individual policy, but it is the combined nature that is making the situation more difficult. Government departments had previously lead the industry to believe that they would address this issue of timing and impact, but it has become clear that they have not and at this time will not, hence the petition and its timing.

11:52 AM