Bingo operator hit by smoking ban

The smoking ban has hit earnings at the one of the country's largest bingo hall operators.

Rank Group, which operates Mecca Bingo halls, announced a trading update for the 40 weeks to October 7 in which it said that after an encouraging start to the second half of its financial year there had been a "significant deterioration" in revenue in recent weeks.

Rank said that if current "disappointing levels of recent weeks' trading" continued through to the end of the year then the group's operating profit for the year would be "significantly lower" than in 2006.

The group said the recent Gambling Act requirement that the number of £500 jackpot machines it can legally operate per venue be reduced from 10 to four was partly to blame for the revenue fall, as was the ban on smoking in enclosed public spaces.

In the five weeks since the £500 machines were removed, Rank's like-for-like bingo revenue fell 19 per cent across the UK, with admissions down 13 per cent and revenue per head down by seven per cent.

In England and Wales revenue fell by 22 per cent, while in Scotland - whose smoking ban has been in place for 18 months - revenues were six per cent lower than in 2006.

Rank said it had extended handheld electronic bingo to 78 of its 100-plus sites, with 28 venues being given outside gaming areas to help smoking customers continue to play.

In its update Rank said: "While the recent trading difficulties affecting our UK retail businesses are worse than we had anticipated, we understand that they are shared by the broader UK bingo club and casino markets and are not unique to Rank."