{"id":4785,"date":"2021-01-20T14:58:16","date_gmt":"2021-01-20T14:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bettingwebsites.org.uk\/?page_id=4785"},"modified":"2023-10-24T12:40:04","modified_gmt":"2023-10-24T12:40:04","slug":"rank-group","status":"publish","type":"companies","link":"https:\/\/www.bettingwebsites.org.uk\/companies\/rank-group\/","title":{"rendered":"Rank Group"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"TheUnlike most of the other big gambling groups we talk about on this site, a significant portion of The Rank Group\u2019s business involves offline venues, specifically high street casinos and bingo halls.<\/p>\n

Of course they do operate online as well, they would be mad not to, but this has never been their main focus, so their approach is a little different and it has left them exposed at certain times.<\/p>\n

The Rank Group have had an extremely varied and interesting journey to the top, having held business interests in engineering, traditional entertainment and leisure such as holiday parks etc, restaurants, and even the film industry – did you know that if it wasn\u2019t for The Rank Group there would be no Bugsy Malone?<\/p>\n

From their inception in 1937 by J. Arthur Rank, a young man originally from Hull, it seems they *\u201ccould have been anything that they wanted to be\u201d, so how did they end up in the gambling industry?<\/p>\n

We\u2019ll get onto that in due course, for now, it is enough to know that they own Grosvenor Casino and Mecca Bingo, making them the biggest casino operator and the second biggest bingo club operator in the country.<\/p>\n

*That’s a Bugsy Malone reference for anyone who was confused.<\/p>\n

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Rank Group Brands<\/h2>\r\n
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Site<\/div>\r\n
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Details<\/div>\r\n
Review<\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n
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\r\n \r\n \"grosvenor<\/a>\r\n \r\n <\/div>\r\n \r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n Grosvenor\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n Britain's biggest land based casino group\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n \r\n Brand Info<\/a>\r\n \r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n
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\r\n \r\n \"\"<\/a>\r\n \r\n <\/div>\r\n \r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n Spin And Win\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n Daub Alderney gaming site now part of Rank Group\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n \r\n Brand Info<\/a>\r\n \r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n
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\r\n \r\n \"the<\/a>\r\n \r\n <\/div>\r\n \r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n The Rialto Casino\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n Online Casino from the Famous Leicester Square Venue\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n \r\n Brand Info<\/a>\r\n \r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/div>\n

Company Details<\/h2>\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Revenue<\/strong><\/th>\n\u00a3644 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Annual Pre-Tax Profit\/(Loss)<\/strong><\/th>\n\u00a340.4 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Premises<\/strong><\/th>\nGrosvenor = 52 Casinos, Mecca = 64 Bingo Halls, Enracha = 9 Clubs (Spain)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Offices<\/strong><\/th>\nMaidenhead (HQ), Gibraltar, Barcelona<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Subsidiaries<\/strong><\/th>\nDaub Alderney, Stride Gaming<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Publicly Traded<\/strong><\/th>\nLondon Stock Exchange (FTSE 250)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Number of Brands<\/strong><\/th>\nGrosvenor Casino, Mecca Bingo, Enracha, Bella Casino, Yo Bingo\/Casino, Regal Wins, Magical Vegas, Spin and Win, Lucky Pants Bingo, Kitty Bingo, Passion Gaming, Rummy Passion = 12<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

This is a quick rundown of The Rank Group\u2019s business so you can get an idea of their size and the type of business they run, but we will go into more detail below.<\/p>\n

Before that though, let\u2019s look at some of their key acquisitions. We will concentrate on the gambling industry here, but the group had been steadily selling off their non-gambling related businesses for years until, in 2006, they sold their last non-gambling related business, Hard Rock – which has ironically now become a gambling business.<\/p>\n

Anyway…<\/p>\n

Mergers & Acquisitions<\/h2>\n
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Blue Square Sports Betting Acquisition<\/h3>\n
January 2003<\/div>\n

The Rank Group uncharacteristically showed interest in the sports betting space in 2003, when they stumped up \u00a363 million for online and telephone betting company Blue Square.<\/p>\n

They owned the brand for 10 years but it consistently struggled under the new ownership, and in 2013 was offloaded to Betfair for a mere \u00a35 million, with the potential of an extra \u00a330 million if certain targets were met. They were not, and Blue Square was eventually closed down with customers migrating to Betfair.<\/p>\n

The Rank Group have mostly stayed away from sports betting since then.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Grosvenor Buy Gala Casino Venues<\/h3>\n
May 2013<\/div>\n

Grosvenor had originally tried to buy 23 casinos from Gala in 2012, but the Competition Commission weren\u2019t happy with the deal and it had to be re-structured.<\/p>\n

A year later and with 4 fewer sites on the sales ticket, Grosvenor successfully completed the purchase of 19 Gala Casino\u2019s bringing their portfolio to more than 55 venues.<\/p>\n

This came at a cost of \u00a3179 million, but it also made them the biggest casino operator in the UK.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Stride Gaming Takeover<\/h3>\n
September 2018<\/div>\n

This was a particularly big move for The Rank Group, as they wanted to expand their digital portfolio and Stride looked like their best opportunity to do that.<\/p>\n

They made a \u00a3115 million cash offer for the company – which owned Daub Alderney who still run under the Rank umbrella \u2013 and this offer was accepted, seeing Stride\u2019s business assets folded into The Rank Group.<\/p>\n

This bagged them popular bingo brands such as Kitty Bingo and Lucky Pants Bingo among others like Aspers, as well as the technical ability to better compete online with rivals such as GVC by developing a group wide in house platform they would call RIDE.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Offloading Blankenberge Casino<\/h3>\n
October 2020<\/div>\n

Although not a huge deal, the sale of this Belgian casino was something of a turning point in Rank Group’s strategy. They could now focus solely on their core businesses and target international growth from them alone.<\/p>\n

As a standalone casino the Blankenberge did not feature heavily in the group’s plans anyway, with them having sold off their other Belgian casino, Middlekerke, back in 2017.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The \u00a325 million they got from the sale went straight to reducing the company’s debt after an extremely difficult year which saw almost all of their income streams disappear thanks to the nationwide coronavirus lockdown.<\/p>\n

About the Business<\/h2>\n

\"Rank<\/p>\n

The Rank Group was formed in 1995 but the company\u2019s history goes back a lot further than that as you will see in the following section.<\/p>\n

It was initially set up to take over the business assets of the Rank Organisation, so the group started life as the owner of huge names such as Odeon Cinema, Pinewood Studios, Xerox, Butlins, Haven Holidays, and the Hard Rock Caf\u00e9. It was heavily involved in the leisure and entertainment industries and indeed, this had been where the Rank Organisation has started life.<\/p>\n

Rather strangely for a \u2018new\u2019 business though, The Rank Group got to work divesting most of their assets, shedding companies year on year and gradually leaving whole sectors behind until eventually, all that was left of their entertainment empire was their logo, the gong man, famous as the introduction to all Rank produced films.*<\/p>\n