The Rank Group

The Rank Group plc is a gambling company based in the United Kingdom. Rank was involved in the cinema and motion picture industry until 2006, and continues to use the Gongman logo originally used by the Rank Organisation's film distribution subsidiary General Film Distributors. Its brands now include Mecca Bingo, and Grosvenor Casinos, the UK's largest casino operator.

Rank's principal market and headquarters are in the United Kingdom, where it operates Grosvenor Casinos (56 casinos), Mecca Bingo (96 bingo clubs) and Rank Interactive (online gaming and betting). It also operates additional Grosvenor Casinos clubs in Belgium (two casinos), and Rank España in Spain (10 bingo clubs).[3]

Rank is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.[4]

History

Operations

Grosvenor Casinos

Established in 1970, Grosvenor Casinos (formerly County Clubs) is a UK-based chain of over 50 casinos located in major towns and cities across the UK with two sister casinos located in Belgium.[19] In 2010, the group had an active membership of 1 million customers across its 35 UK clubs under the Grosvenor brand.[20] In March 2013, Rank announced that it had conditionally agreed to purchase 19 Gala Casinos from the Gala Coral Group in a £179 million deal. With the addition of these casinos and a further three non-operating licences, Rank has become the largest casino operator in the UK, with 56 casinos.[16]

Mecca Bingo

Mecca Bingo (formerly called Top Rank) is a UK-based social and bingo club leisure company, with sites located in several major towns and cities across the UK.[21] The company operates meccabingo.com and meccagames.com as extensions of the Mecca Bingo brand. Mecca Bingo now offers players the ability to interact with a live dealer in the desktop and mobile app (iOS and Android) platforms instead of relying on a random number generator.[22]

Controversy

On 25 December 1997, many Muslims were angered that the name of their holiest city, Mecca, was also the name of a gambling company, as gambling is strictly forbidden in Islam. Bricks were thrown through windows at a Mecca Bingo hall in Luton, causing £3000 of damage. In a meeting held between community leaders and Mecca Bingo executives on 6 January 1998, Hazel Simmons, chairwoman of equal opportunities at Luton Borough Council, said, "We are aware of a groundswell of public opinion and I personally believe this to be insensitive in what is now a truly multicultural society." However, Mecca Bingo said that the name change from Top Rank was not insensitive and was part of a policy of bringing their nationwide chain of bingo halls under one name. Sergeant Peter Shepherd said, "It was unrealistic to expect that anything definite could be resolved at the meeting, but at least it was constructive to have the dialogue."[23]

Controversy

enracha

enracha is Rank's interactive Spanish gaming site launched in 2011. enracha offers a wide range of online slots, videobingo, blackjack, roulette, live roulette, skill games and other casino games.[24]

former name	Megastorm Public Limited Company (1995–1996)‡R1R‡
type	Public
traded as	lse: RNK FTSE 250 component
predecessor	Rank Organisation
area served	United Kingdom Belgium Spain
key people	Ian Burke (chairman) John O'Reilly (chief executive) Louis Chen (chief executive)
industry	Gambling
products	Grosvenor Casinos Mecca Bingo enracha Rank España Rank Interactive
revenue	£795.4 million (2025)‡R2R‡
operating income	£63.7 million (2025)‡R2R‡
net income	£44.6 million (2025)‡R2R‡
location	Maidenhead, Berkshire, United Kingdom
locations	152 (UK) 2 (Belgium) 10 (Spain)
homepage	https://rank.com

History

Operations

Grosvenor Casinos

Mecca Bingo

Controversy

Controversy

enracha

Technology

External links

References