Rank Group reports 5% net revenue rise in first quarter
Grosvenor and Mecca Bingo owner Rank Group posted first-quarter net revenue of £216.1m, with digital gaming revenue up 6% year-on-year despite April's Remote Gaming Duty increase.
Rank Group has posted net revenue of £216.1m for its first quarter, a 5% increase year-on-year, as the Grosvenor and Mecca Bingo owner continues trading under the higher Remote Gaming Duty regime introduced in April 2026.
Digital net gaming revenue came in at £64.9m on a like-for-like basis, up 6% year-on-year, with growth split across Rank's UK operations, which rose 6%, and its international business, up 4%. Net revenue from the Mecca online brand climbed 7% year-on-year.
According to SBC News, Rank said its UK digital arm had held up well against the new tax burden and a pullback in above-the-line marketing, with the company stressing that balancing customer proposition investment against overall marketing spend remains central to its strategy as the online market adjusts to the new conditions.
Retail performance also improved. Grosvenor casino revenue rose 6% to £108.1m, supported by a 1% rise in visits and a 5% increase in spend per visit. Within that, table gaming revenue grew 3%, electronic gaming rose 5% and gaming machine revenue jumped 14% year-on-year.
That machine revenue growth could face a significant test later this year if Machine Games Duty rises from 20% to 40% in the Autumn Budget, a prospect Rank chief executive Richard Harris addressed directly in the trading update.
Harris said speculation ahead of the Budget was weighing on investor sentiment, but that Rank's position had been consistent: a duty increase would raise costs, undermine venue viability, trigger closures and job losses, cut tax receipts and stall investment. He added that the Treasury had accepted these arguments last year and that, given the right conditions, Rank's casinos and bingo clubs could support the government's growth agenda.
Harris has previously warned that such a duty rise could force Rank to close around a third of its venues, SBC News reported.
Mecca venues delivered flat revenue of £32.2m year-on-year. Visits fell 3%, though spend per visit rose 3%, a pattern Rank attributed largely to the prolonged UK heatwave keeping customers away.
In Spain, Rank's Enracha venues generated £10.9m, up 7% year-on-year.
Rank said its outlook for the rest of the year, based on the current tax regime, remained consistent with market expectations for profit. Harris said he was pleased with the quarter's revenue growth, pointing in particular to the gaming machine performance at Grosvenor and the resilience shown by the UK digital business.