Rank reduces its emissions by 26.1% and increases the presence of women in senior management to 40%

The Rank Group Plc has published its 2026 Sustainability Report for the financial year from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026. The document sets out the group's environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance through its brands Grosvenor Casinos – the largest multi-channel casino operator in the United Kingdom, with 50 locations – Mecca Bingo – with 41 bingo rooms – Enracha – its gaming business for the Spanish market, with nine locations – and its digital portfolio, which includes the Yo and Enracha brands for Spain, Yo in Portugal and ten digital-only brands in the United Kingdom operated on proprietary technology.

The group measures its progress through nine key performance indicators (KPIs) spread across four practice areas: customers, employees, environment and communities. Four of those indicators are directly linked to executive compensation. "We have long believed that our long-term business success is inextricably linked to how we manage our impact on the world around us," CEO Richard Harris said in the letter that opens the report, describing the exercise as a transition from planning phases to "operational execution at scale."

In the environmental chapter, Rank achieved an absolute emissions reduction of 4,203 tCO2e, above its target of 3,700 tCO2e, which translated into a 26.1% year-on-year drop in its Scope 1 and 2 emissions in the group as a whole (United Kingdom and Spain). The company reformulated its intermediate decarbonization target to achieve a 75% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2035, as part of its roadmap towards net zero emissions by 2050. During the year, it carried out decarbonization audits at five locations, structural studies of solar roofs at ten sites and the transition of 13 cookers from gas to electric equipment, in addition to installing electric boilers at four locations. All Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions are now covered by limited insurance.

Not all environmental indicators met their target. Committed solar projects were at zero, against a target of five, as were degassed sites, which were at zero against the target of one. The Employee Recommendation Indicator (NPS) for environmental matters was 39, below the target of 40. Electricity purchased in the UK and Spain comes 100% from renewable sources.

In the area of employees, Rank reached its target of 40% of senior management positions being held by women, up from 32% the previous year, while the median gender pay gap narrowed from 4.3% to 3.6%. The employee engagement rate was 8.2, slightly below the target of 8.3. Among the year's initiatives, 50 leaders completed more than 130 hours of training in areas such as artificial intelligence, leadership and change management through an agreement with Henley Business School, and the Full House employee recognition platform was extended to Gibraltar and South Africa. The group also incorporated additional questions on equality, diversity and inclusion (ED&I) into its opinion survey.

In the customer chapter, the company places safe gaming as its "top priority". Rank achieved its target for a customer satisfaction score in safe gaming, of 85%, improving on 84% from the previous year. The Net Promoter Score (NPS) of customers was 54, below the target of 56 but stable year-on-year, while the NPS of employees in safe gaming stood at 72, in line with the target. During the year, the group joined the GamProtect collaborative scheme, which allows operators to work together to flag customers at risk of gambling harm and prevent their activity in participating brands.

Rank also highlights the recognition of its proprietary real-time customer monitoring platform, Hawkeye, which received the "Best Player Protection System" award at the European Casino Awards 2026 for the UK's digital business. "While the ultimate return on investment is the reduction in the incidence of problem gambling, this external recognition is a testament to the sophistication and diligence of our player protection teams," says Harris. The company also updated Grosvenor's risk application, which now requires teams to complete a safe gaming interaction on the next customer visit – instead of the standard five-visit window – when dealing with under-25s or people returning from self-exclusion, and introduced the "Department of Trust" into Mecca's management system. In October 2025, it deployed a new Anti-Money Laundering (AML) data model within Hawkeye to improve risk scoring and prioritization.

In terms of governance and compliance, the report details that, after receiving the preliminary findings of the Gambling Commission as part of the review of Grosvenor Casinos Limited's operating license, the group substantially implemented a set of corrective measures. These include strengthening controls for higher-risk customers, improving verification of the origin of funds and wealth, improving screening and monitoring processes – with centralised supervision – and strengthening safe gambling controls, measures that are being integrated into Grosvenor's operating procedures and control framework. The ESG and Safe Gaming committee was renamed the Compliance, Regulation and Governance Committee, chaired by Katie McAlister, as of 1 July 2026, to better reflect the breadth of its remit.

The report also includes ESG ratings given by external agencies. Rank maintains MSCI's AAA rating, a 4.1 from FTSE Russell and a C score from CDP, while its Sustainalytics rating improved to 21.2 (up from 25.3 a year earlier), on a scale where lower scores indicate lower risk.

In the area of communities, the group again exceeded its annual target by raising £496,000 in charitable contributions for its long-term partner, Carers Trust, above the target of £394,000. Over the course of the year, 594 carers were supported, and since the start of the collaboration in 2014, £4.5 million has been raised for respite services, training and support for lay carers.

In terms of international expansion, Harris stresses that in November 2025 the group successfully launched its operations in Portugal, a process in which, according to him, the main focus was to ensure that its safe-play approach was "fully aligned with local regulatory requirements" from day one. In terms of the disclosure framework, the company confirms that, following the European Commission's February 2025 "Omnibus" simplification update – which raised turnover thresholds for non-EU parent companies – the group is no longer within the scope of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). Its reporting strategy continues to align with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) metrics, pending future UK Sustainability Reporting Standards (UK SRS), expected from 2027/28.

"I want to extend my sincere thanks to our colleagues, whose passion and daily commitment bring our sustainability strategy to life," concludes the CEO.