The Rank Group, the owners of Mecca Bingo and Grosvenor Casinos, has reported a 19% decline in its like-for-like revenues and blames the fall on the smoking ban and on the law’s effects on gaming terminals.

A Rank spokesman said "The coincidence of a number of external factors has resulted in a period of volatility and a lack of visibility unprecedented in the UK gaming industry. Should the disappointing levels of recent weeks' trading continue through to the end of the year (and given the relatively high level of fixed costs within Mecca Bingo and Grosvenor Casinos), group operating profit for the full year would be significantly lower than in 2006."

The new laws put a limit on the kind of gaming fruit machines that can be offered in each location, based on stakes and prize size. This means fewer higher payout machines (£500 jackpot machines) which are now limited to only four per location.  For Rank, this represents a fall from approximately 1,300 machines to 400 machines in all of their bingo club locations. Even though there are now more lower paying machines (£35 jackpot), the decline in revenues amounts to almost ₤500,000 per week.

Not all is doom and gloom though as the company’s other divisions which include a chain of Spanish bingo clubs and the online gaming brand Blue Square saw increased revenues, Blue Square sales were up 38% and the Spanish bingo clubs were up over 8%.