Gambling: Will a bad reputation finally make bingo cool?

The yawn of a new era: Bingo has gone totally 21st century (Getty Images)

Bingo has become the first Facebook game where punters play a virtual game for real money. Bingo Friendzy (sigh), is an app for over 18s that's branded with fluffy characters that look like the Tribbles from Star Trek/Moshi Monsters* (*delete depending on whether you're over or under 30).

But given bingo's blue-rinse-and-packet-of-Embassy-Regal reputation, it seems a bit surprising that it's gone down the social network route, right? Wrong – far from grannies on cruise ships, bingo seems to be repositioning itself as the non-threatening way to urinate money away. TV ads for online bingo are all girly giggles, office gossip and celeb-mag spoofs.

If you need more proof that bingo's gone totally 21st century it's that there's already bad feeling brewing about whether Bingo Friendzy will lure children into playing. Big bad bingo? Whatever will Grandma say?