Bingo at Odeon?

A number of cinemas in Britain and Spain have begun offering games on their screens, using control devices mounted at each seat. Odeon Cinemas Ltd. of Britain has tested it in cinemas in Manchester and Huddersfield with on-screen bingo.

It works well for games such as bingo and keno, where players can win money prizes.

Gerald Buckle, digital development manager at Odeon U.K. in London, says his company's first trials of the system in the summer found bingo went over well with traditional bingo players, a middle-aged crowd who took to bingo on-screen.

Odeon found that it could offer games as stand-alone attractions, or as opening attractions before the film started.

New games are in the pipeline, more akin to television game shows such as Deal Or No Deal and The Price is Right. The plan is to roll out the bingo system to about 20 of Odeon's roughly 100 venues in Britain in 2008.

Mecca Bingo has been using teh same system in about 10 British casino and bingo hall locations since May and will be expanding to more than 20 in 2008.

Mr. Buckle says Odeon U.K.'s experiments show bingo games in cinemas will work, not just as adjuncts to movies but as stand-alone entertainment in their own right.