The Rank Group
Based in the UK, The Rank Group, which incorporates Mecca Bingo, Top Rank Espana, Grosvenor Casinos and Blue Square is a major European gaming business, listed on the UK stock exchange since 1996. In 2006 they sold Hard Rock to Seminole Tribe, an American organisation, for $965 million.
The principle activities are on-line gaming & bookmaking and operation of casinos and bingo clubs.
Mecca Bingo is a one of the leading British bingo clubs, having been established back in 1961. They own 102 clubs (of 617 clubs in the UK) which, in 2006 generated a revenue of £261.7 million and a profit of £63.6 million. They had over 19 million admissions from an active member ship of 1.1 million people. They employ 41655 staff.
Blue Square , established in 199 operate the interactive online section of the business and comprises various casino, poker and other games products as well as a sports betting service. It also runs the online gaming sector of the Mecca Bingo, Grosvenor casinos and Grosvenor poker. In 2006 they had a revenue of £39.2 million with a profit of £7.8 million. There were 320,000 active members and 141 employees.
Established in 2007, Grosvenor Casinos operates casinos under the names “Grosvenor” and “G Casinos” in England and Wales as well as two in Belgium. As of August 2007, Grosvenor casinos held 33 of the 144 casino operating licenses in the UK. As of 2006, they had a revenue of £217.6 million and a profit of £39.55 million generated from 4.5 million admissions. The active member ship was 788,00 and they employed 3360 staff.
Top Rank Espana has 11 premium bingo clubs in Spain, with the head office in Barcelona. The clubs are located around Andalucia, Catalonia, Galicia and Madrid. They were established in 1994, and in 2006 had a revenue of £31.1 million and an operating profit of £8.9 million. At this time they had an active membership of 326,000 and 611 employees.
According to the 2006 annual report, The Rank Group employs 19,000 staff at a cost of £307.2m. Their turnover was £284.6 million with a pre tax profit of £40.6 million.
The Groups strategy as a focussed gaming business is to establish clear plans to take advantage of the changes taking place in UK gaming in order to generate a growth in profits and return on capital. Despite certain challenges they believe this is possible due to the projected increase in size of the UK gaming market.
In 2010, the group was operating 35 clubs in the UK under the Grosvenor brand with 3752 emploiyees and had an active membership of 1 million customers.
