Bookmakers and hospitality businesses are examining whether they are in-line to receive multi-million VAT refunds from the government, in relation to HMRC overruled calculations on FOBTs charges. This weekend, The Times reported that up to 1,000 UK businesses that operated fruit machines, one-armed bandits and coin-pushers are reviewing whether to claim compensation from HMRC. The dispute relates to HMRC collecting …
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A lack of international tourism and restrictions on London’s night time economy have put a dampener on Rank Group’s performance according to a trading update published by the company. While current trading is “in line with management expectations”, Rank highlighted a disparity between its Grosvenor Casinos based outside of London and those within the capital city. The group noted that …
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Rank Group Plc has deployed its proprietary-built ‘Hawkeye’ real-time safer gambling monitoring system, observing customer engagements across its flagship online properties of Grosvenor Casino and Mecca Bingo. Updating stakeholders, the LSE gambling group completes a key 2021 corporate directive, ‘investing significantly’ to revamp its customer care capacity, allowing its teams to better identify player risks and carry-out interventions were necessary. …
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A group of Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) members have committed to donate all-profits from the Britannia Stakes, giving a ‘major’ financial boost to a selection of charities. Participating BGC members include bet365, BetVictor, Betway, Entain (Ladbrokes, Coral), Flutter Entertainment (Paddy Power, Betfair, Sky Bet), William Hill, Kindred (Unibet), Rank Group (Grosvenor Sport), the Tote and Fitzdares. “I am absolutely …
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Rank Group Plc has revealed that trading under lockdown conditions for its most recent quarterly reporting period has resulted in a 72% fall in group like-for-like revenues. This morning, the LSE gambling group published a Q3 2020/2021 trading and corporate liquidity update for the period ending 31 March, which stated that its Grosvenor and Mecca venue net revenues performance had …
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UK bingo’s biggest land-based operators, Mecca and Buzz Bingo, have joined forces to launch ‘National Bingo Day’ on Sunday 27 June – providing a vital boost for all British bingo venues returning to business from lockdown. Accustomed to being celebrated across the US, Buzz and Mecca have launched Britain’s version of ‘National Bingo Day’, championed by the Bingo Association. Helping …
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Sue Yoxall, co-founder and executive director of mkodo, discusses meeting the increased demand for digital entertainment, and why changes to submissions on both Google Play and Apple provides an opportunity for operators to take advantage of a new player demographic, especially as new markets such as the US and Germany begin to open in 2021. Yoxall also addresses a tilting …
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Rank Group Plc has reaffirmed its confidence in being able to navigate the continued challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic has placed on its business. Publishing its H1 2020/2021 interim results for the six months ending 31 December 2020, Rank has recorded underlying group-wide losses of £42 million – representing a 171% swing on 2019/2020 profits of £59 million. As previously …
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Having navigated March and April’s COVID storms, the betting industry was served a political whiplash across European jurisdictions as the months of May and June saw governments order tighter customer controls across all gambling verticals. SBC – European governments order tougher controls on gambling’s compliance duties Following direct orders from the government, the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) imposed a series …
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Rank Group Plc has quelled press speculation that it will undertake a new share placement to raise working capital to help its venues and properties mitigate autumn lockdown proceedings and further COVID-19 impacts. The LSE gambling group issued its response to a Sky News report, which detailed that Rank would pursue a £70 million emergency funding round, undertaken through a …
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