Non an online bingo story, but interesting nevertheless, if someone told me that playing bingo is big in Baghdad, I would tell them they were talking nonsense, but I would be wrong. This game is played at one of Baghdad’s most elite social clubs, the “Alwiyah Club”. Although years of violence drove away nearly all the members of this club it is seeing a resurgence of popularity and on bingo night the crowds amount to hundreds of people.
Even though the odd deadly blasts still rips the air in this city and the streets are nowhere near as safe as they used to be. Many people can still be found playing bingo, entire families join in the fun and games, all hoping that tonight may be their lucky night. One regular patron said she had been playing bingo here since she was a young girl and had never win, but she still comes back for more, trailing her family behind her.
The social club is 85 years old and it has made a huge come-back. Bingo games play, Arabic pop music blares and there is even an open bar. Saturday night bingo games are the draw card and crowd pleaser, and it attract all age groups, from teenagers to grandparents who have been members their whole lives.
This mania for bingo actually show a growing trend that the sense of security in Baghdad is returning. Communities who what nothing to do with religious divisions are most likely to frequent the club and members include Sunnis, Shi’ites and Christians. No one cares what they other person’s religious affiliations are, and once again the game of bingo is the great leveler. It is the game, the socializing and the chance of that big win which draws these like-minded people together, and what was once the playground for Iraqi elite during British rule has been revived by bingo.
People stayed away from the Alwiyah Club during the Saddam Hussein regime as it was frequented by his family and cronies who were well renowned sexual predators. Also no alcohol or music was allowed and as one young patron says “what kind of a party is that?” Soon after the invasion of the US in 2003, this club started re-building itself and has continued to do so, and now it is the hangout of the Iraqi newly rich! I wonder if they are allowed to play online bingo?
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