The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 6 March 2008:
As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question on how many people are employed in the bingo industry; and what forecast has been made of the size of the workforce in February 2009. (191569)
Employment figures classified according to industry are routinely provided using the Annual Business Inquiry (ABI). The figure provided below, using SIC03 is compiled from the industry classified as “Gambling and betting activities” (SIC03 code 92.71). Bingo is not separately identified.
In 2006 the ABI records that there were 96,644 people employed in “Gambling and betting activities”. Forecasts relevant to this question are not compiled by the Office for National Statistics.
As with any sample survey estimates from the Annual Business Inquiry are subject to margins of uncertainty.