How times have changed. The days of the purple rinsed cigarette puffing female bingo players crammed into bingo halls across the UK have been transformed forever.

Not alone do we now have online bingo but last week Britain’s first fully electronic bingo club was opened in South West London.

Riva, the UK based bingo hall operator opened the UK’s very first fully automated bingo hall in Sutton to much fanfare.

The club offers players an impressive 582 new personal handheld terminals that are specifically designed for that club. Riva have developed an additional 20 portable terminals for players to use in the clubs planned external smoking area.

The CEO of Riva, Simon Hannah, "We are operating in a challenging environment but we believe there is still plenty of room for growth for operators who provide unique and exciting facilities.

“The Riva club in Sutton we believe is the leading edge in the UK and in its opening week has traded beyond our expectations," he added.

"Sutton provides our players with an exciting new bingo challenge and we are delighted with the number of players, both new and traditional, who are enjoying playing a part in the evolution of bingo".

The use of electronic terminals in bingo clubs has become increasingly popular because the technology is so simple and can generally be enjoyed by all customers regardless of age. Riva currently offers use of hand held terminals in a number of other clubs also.

Riva is the fourth biggest bingo operator in the UK, with around 250,000 members and 700 staff. It operates 13 bingo clubs under the Riva and Beacon brands, including the largest bingo club in the UK in Cricklewood, North West London, with other clubs in Aberdeen, Pudsey, Streatham, Sutton, Bristol, Brighton, Northampton, Loughborough, Newark and two sites in the Newcastle area.