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November 29, 2009
The struggling bingo industry in Windsor, Ontario is hoping to see a turnaround with the opening of a new electronic bingo hall in the coming week. The bingo hall which was formerly known as Classic Bingo V Hall has undergone massive refurbishment and is all set to open as the Breakaway Gaming Centre.
“We’re excited about it, it affords us the opportunity to come into the 21st century” said Tony Rosa, president and CEO of Community Gaming and Entertainment. “It gives us the opportunity to stabilize the industry and grow.”
The old bingo hall had closed down in July and is set to relaunch with 120 computerised touch screen bingo terminals and seating capacity for 500 people. “We’re going to try and get some of our American clientele back,” said Rosa.
Ontario’s bingo industry has seen a dramatic drop in recent times, in the late 1980s there were as many as 240 bingo halls, now there are only 70. In Windsor there are five bingo halls left, all of which are owned by Community Gaming and Entertainment.
City licensing commissioner Diane Bertolin said she’s excited about the prospects of the new game. “It’s a really exciting time,” she said. “It’s started coming back up and it’s coming back up slowly. It’s going to be very interesting.”
The new bingo terminals will offer players the option of marking their own cards, or, like online bingo games, will have them marked automatically. “It’s the same game, it’s just playing bingo electronically,” said Rosa. “It’s all touch-screen, it’s very user-friendly.” He expects to open two more e-bingo parlours at the Big D and Paradise halls.
The Ontario province began electronic bingo pilot schemes two years ago in Barrie which was followed by Peterborough, Kingston and Sudbury. Windsor is the first border community to get licensing for electronic bingo games.
Written by Anna Richards for Bingostreet – bringing you news from the international world of bingo.
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