Machines drive Grosvenor: Rank Group casinos grow by 6% despite the closure of three rooms
Machines drive Grosvenor: Rank Group casinos grow by 6% despite the closure of three rooms
The British group earns £216.1 million between July and September and warns against a tax hike on machines.
The Rank Group, the British gaming group that owns Grosvenor casinos, Mecca bingo halls and, in Spain, Enracha rooms, has opened its 2026/27 financial year with a 5% growth in its comparable net gaming revenue. Between July 1 and September 30, 2026 , it had a turnover of £216.1 million.
In Spain, Enracha cinemas earned £10.9 million, 7% more than in the same quarter of the previous year. The driving force has been electronic gaming, which grew by 11%. The division thus maintains the trend of recent years: it already grew by 5% in the first quarter of last year and closed 2025 with a 9% increase in revenue.
Grosvenor casinos, the group's largest division, earned £108.1 million, up 6%. Visits grew by 1% and spending per visit by 5%. By business lines, revenue from gaming machines rose by 14%, table games by 3% and electronic gaming by 5%.
In the quarter, Rank closed three casinos, in Swansea, Reading Central and Sunderland, because in the medium term it no longer considered them economically viable.
Mecca bingo halls maintained their revenue at £32.2 million, unchanged. Visits fell by 3% and spending per visit rose by another 3%. The company attributes the drop in visits to a long period of heat.
The digital business earned £64.9 million, up 6%. In the United Kingdom it grew by 6%, with Mecca online rising by 7%, and the international digital business advanced by 4%. The group highlights the strength of its British customer despite two factors: the highest taxation of online gambling in the United Kingdom since April 2026 and the cut in its investment in mass advertising.
Chief Executive Richard Harris assessed the quarter's growth, the evolution of machines at Grosvenor and the resilience of the British digital business. He also warned that speculation about the upcoming British Government Budget is weighing on investor sentiment.
According to Harris, any increase in the tax on gaming machines (Machine Games Duty) would increase costs and make more halls unviable. That would translate into closures and job losses. He also defended that casinos and bingo halls can contribute to the government's growth agenda. The British sector already warned last year of closures and the loss of 3,500 jobs if this tax was raised.
With the current British tax regime, Rank speaks of a "strong start" to the year. It forecasts a comparable operating profit in line with what the market expects. It will publish its half-year results on January 28, 2027.
