Listen to this article:The Rank Group, owner of one of the most popular UK online bingo sites, Mecca Bingo, has announced a 6% increase in its year-on-year revenue in Q3, saying that it is making “good” progress in its digital and land-based divisions.
In its latest trading update, Rank Group said that its revenue for the three months ending 31 March was £182.3 million. Of this, £80 million was generated by the group’s Grosvenor venues, an increase of 3%.
The group also said that there was a 5% increase in visitor numbers in Q3 and that its average weekly net gaming revenue (NGR) was up 2% year-on-year to £6.2 million. As such, the group is on course to meet its target of £7 million weekly NGR from the Grosvenor venues.
There was also good news regarding revenue from Mecca Bingo venues, which grew 12% to £37.3 million. Once again, there was a 5% increase in visitor numbers and a 7% increase in spend per visit, with particularly strong trading over the Mother’s Day and Easter weekends.
Rank’s Enracha venues in Spain also saw an increase in revenue of 9% to £10 million.
Looking at the digital division of Rank Group’s revenue grew 6% to £55 million in the quarter. In the UK, digital revenue increased by 4%; in Spain, it surged by 20% year-on-year.
The NGR from Mecca Bingo in the UK increased by 21%, but there was far smaller growth of just 1% from Grosvenor. According to Rank, this was down to a weaker gaming margin and some large customer wins.
Due to planned reductions in marketing spending, there was a 13% drop in NGER for other UK digital brands. However, the company drew attention to the expected effect of a new content management system introduced at both the Mecca Bingo and Grosvenor websites. The new system went live in the last quarter and the company believes that it will improve operational efficiency and the speed to market for customer proposition enhancements.
Rank Group revealed that its year-to-date revenue for the nine months to the end of March reached £544.9 million, an increase of 8% from the same point last year.
The revenue from Grosvenor venues for the nine months was 8% higher at £274.5 million, while revenue from Mecca Bingo venues was up 10% at £104.5 million. Furthermore, revenue from the Enracha venues in Spain grew 9% to £29.5 million.
There was also a 7% increase to £164.4 million in revenue from the digital business for the period. In regards to the final quarter of the financial year, Rank Group’s performance continue to improve in April and that its operating profit for the year ending 30 June should be in line with expectations.
The company’s CEO, John O’Reilly, said:
“We continue to make good progress across both our venues and online businesses. Q3 trading is very much in line with the board’s expectations. Performance continues to improve. We have the very important land-based reforms from the government’s white paper to look forward to, which we hope to start implementing in the coming months.”
Recently, O’Reilly said that the company is “well positioned” to benefit from the land-based reforms suggested by the UK government in their recent gambling white paper. It expects to be able to double the number of gaming machines located at its Grosvenor casinos and the proposed changes will also allow electronic payments in casinos and at bingo halls.
Speaking in February, O’Reilly said:
“We are well positioned to optimise the opportunities afforded by the UK government’s planned land-based regulatory reforms which will hopefully be implemented through the passing of secondary legislation in the summer of 2024,” said O’Reilly. These reforms cannot come soon enough in enabling us to modernise our proposition to better meet our customers’ expectations.”
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