After a year of business closure under UK lockdown rules, Buzz Bingo will reopen its +90 venues to the general public from Monday 17 May. Chief Commercial Officer Stevie Shaves tells SBC why all industry stakeholders should be paying close attention to Buzz Bingo’s reopening duties as a critical indicator of the sector’s retail future trading against future unknowns… ___________________ …
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Rank Group Plc has revealed that trading under lockdown conditions for its most recent quarterly reporting period has resulted in a 72% fall in group like-for-like revenues. This morning, the LSE gambling group published a Q3 2020/2021 trading and corporate liquidity update for the period ending 31 March, which stated that its Grosvenor and Mecca venue net revenues performance had …
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UK bingo’s biggest land-based operators, Mecca and Buzz Bingo, have joined forces to launch ‘National Bingo Day’ on Sunday 27 June – providing a vital boost for all British bingo venues returning to business from lockdown. Accustomed to being celebrated across the US, Buzz and Mecca have launched Britain’s version of ‘National Bingo Day’, championed by the Bingo Association. Helping …
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Rank Group Plc has reaffirmed its confidence in being able to navigate the continued challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic has placed on its business. Publishing its H1 2020/2021 interim results for the six months ending 31 December 2020, Rank has recorded underlying group-wide losses of £42 million – representing a 171% swing on 2019/2020 profits of £59 million. As previously …
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GambleAware has released its donor list for the first three quarters of 2020, with William Hill topping the list, followed by Flutter Entertainment and bet365. Publishing its industry donation figures for 1 April – 30 December 2020, GambleAware revealed that William Hill made a pledge of £1.04 million, with £540,000 donated. Following William Hill was Flutter Entertainment – the holding …
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Rank Group Plc has migrated ‘Bella Casino’ onto its proprietary operating platform, thereby completing the first stage of the technology integration of its acquired Stride Gaming assets. The LSE gambling group underlined progress on the key technology directive of merging Stride Gaming’s multi-brand UK online casino and bingo portfolio with its proprietary systems to expand its ‘Rank Interactive’ business unit. …
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Rank Group Plc has quelled press speculation that it will undertake a new share placement to raise working capital to help its venues and properties mitigate autumn lockdown proceedings and further COVID-19 impacts. The LSE gambling group issued its response to a Sky News report, which detailed that Rank would pursue a £70 million emergency funding round, undertaken through a …
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Playtech Plc has announced its latest ‘tier-1 gambling extension’ as Rank Group Plc renews its lead online bingo supplier agreement with the FTSE technology group for a further five years. Rank’s bingo extension follows its decision to upgrade all igaming provisions (online casino and poker) onto Playtech systems, supporting the heritage UK gambling operator’s group transformation objectives. Playtech will continue …
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The closure of casinos across Greater Manchester and South Yorkshire has been branded as a ‘senseless’ move by Jonathon Swaine, managing director of Rank Group, after the regions entered England’s new tier three restrictions. The new measures will mean that a number of Rank’s Grosvenor Casinos and Mecca Bingo venues will be forced to close their doors, having only recently …
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John O’Reilly, Chief Executive of Rank Group Plc, has stated that the government has not followed its own public health orders and further scientific measures by choosing to keep UK casinos venues under lockdown. Dominating industry headlines, last Friday PM Boris Johnson repealed the government’s decision to allow English casino venues to reopen on Saturday 1 August. PM Johnson told …
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