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Online Bingo Industry Continues with “I’m Backing Bingo” Campaign

July 15th, 2009

I’m Backing Bingo!

Despite the UK government’s decision to continue with the 22% bingo tax, the online bingo community has announced that they will not back down and will continue with their ‘I’m Backing Bingo” campaign. This means that the fight against the bingo tax is still on.

The online bingo industry has declared its support for the brick and mortar bingo halls. The official BackBingo.com website continues to receive a lot of traffic even post the government’s decision in favor of retaining the 22% tax hike. Bingo enthusiasts who wish to affirm their support for the cause need to just log on to the site for doing the same. Here, they can download Back the Bingo badges for posting on their Facebook profile, join the Back the Bingo campaign on Facebook, sign up for a massive signature campaign featuring on the 10, Downing Street website or simply write to their local MP highlighting the issues faced by bingo halls.

During last week’s parliamentary meeting, the UK government voted with an overwhelming majority in favor of the proposed tax regime that places bingo clubs under a 22% tax net. This was despite massive grass root level protests against the tax hike which has been termed ‘unfair and unequal.’

Several bingo operators announced massive measures to mobilize public and parliamentarian support for the protest-and they did succeed in their effort to a large extent. Notable among these was the ‘I’m Backing Bingo” campaign which was kick-started by Mecca Bingo and the official UK Bingo Association.

With many of their local MPs voting against the campaign, angry bingo patrons took to the streets voicing their dissent. MP Dhanda Parmjit came in for a lot of flak, for having tabled the EDM and ultimately, voting against it in Parliament. Bingo operators have confirmed that they will continue their protests and will not relent unless the tax regime is withdrawn.

Several MPs had earlier proclaimed their support for the bingo cause and promised to vote in Parliament against the tax hike. However much to the dismay of bingo operators and patrons, many of these MPs voted in favor of the legislation. The motion to revoke the proposed tax regime was defeated 283 to 83. Many government MPs, like Dhanda Parmjit who had introduced the Early Day Motion on the floor of the house to begin with, had to vote in favor of the tax hike due to legislative compulsions. A couple of Labor Party rebels, like Eric Ilsley and Dary Taylor though did vote against the hike, but to no avail.

Tags: backing bingo, Bingo, Bingo Tax, bingo taxes, im backing bingo, online-Bingo, uk taxes

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