The owner of the Empire Bingo in Wisebach, Mr. Norman Jacobs, who is also the operator of the bingo club, is certain that bingo will still be around in the UK for many years to come. He does not concur with the nay-sayers who are predicting doom, gloom and collapse for the land based UK bingo industry.

Even though he recently sold the Hippodrome to the Petro u Brothers, he says that sale was not because of any drop in revenue or worries for the future of the land based UK bingo industry, it was purely a wise business decision as the Petrou brothers approached him and made him an offer on the Hippodrome bingo business that he could not refuse.

Originally Mr. Jacobs had planned to operate both the Empire and the Hippodrome, and had no intention of getting out of the bingo business. But the offer came along at a time when it made good business sense, he will still be operating the Empire as an independent bingo club and does not anticipate that the smoking ban, or anything else for that matter is going to affect his business for 2008. The worst of that is over and he has his loyal staff and members to thank for this.