Rank Group has provided a snapshot into its commercial performance for the 2024/25 financial year amid a regulatory overhaul of the UK’s casino regulatory framework.
The firm, operator of Grosvenor Casinos and Mecca Bingo, shared that net gaming revenue (NGR) grew 11% to around £795m between 30 June 2024 and 30 June 2025, leading the group to project underlying profit of £63m.
This is welcome news for the group, which has been navigating a tricky operating environment over the past couple years as the UK betting and gaming markets adjust to a new regulatory environment.
After the difficult trading years of the COVID pandemic (2020-21) and its aftermath, Rank Group began to return to positive trading in 2024. Its Q3 results for that year showed a march back towards profitability, which was finally confirmed as it commenced trading for the 2024/25 financial year with earnings of £15.5m.
John O’Reilly, Chief Executive of Rank Group, said: “We have enjoyed a very strong year of earnings growth despite the significant cost and regulatory headwinds that we have faced from the start of Q4.
“The momentum experienced in the first three quarters has continued, with strong trading in Q4 resulting in our full year underlying operating profit being ahead of expectation.”
Rank stands out strong in UK casino purgatory
Britain’s betting and casino industry has been in a state of limbo since the Gambling Act review White Paper was published back in April 2023. Since the publication, the culmination of a two-and-a-half-year review of the 2005 Gambling Act, the Gambling Commission and DCMS have been engaged in multiple consultations around White Paper measures.
This includes financial risk checks, the answer to the fiercely debated affordability checks; restrictions on online slot stake limits, which are being lined up with those of the land-based sector; and the research, education and treatment (RET) levy, shaking up the way operators have interacted with the charitable and gambling harm treatment sector.
For Rank Group, one of the most significant consultations and incoming regulations is coming into effect on 22 July. Approved by parliament, the rules will relax the machine-to-table ratio in UK casinos from 2:1 and allow debit card payments directly into machines.
This will allow casinos like Grosvenor venues as well as bingo halls to allow up to 80 gaming machines in its largest properties. Other changes remain unconfirmed, however, such as the potential relaxation of the 80/20 ratio on different types of gaming machine in bingo venues, which was apparently shelved earlier this year according to media reports.
Amidst this shifting landscape – one in which gambling remains highly scrutinised by parties like the Liberal Democrats as well as countless local politicians and city and county councils – Rank’s 2024/25 performance shows that the group continues to trade strongly. The firm’s full preliminary results for 2024/25 will be published on 14 August.
“We are at an exciting inflection point for the Group with the land-based casino reforms now law and coming into force from 22 July,” O’Reilly continued.
“At that point, we will begin the process of securing licence variations from local authorities in England and Wales ahead of the rollout of additional gaming machines across the Grosvenor estate to better meet customer demand.”
