Rank to unveil new multi-channel bingo brand next year

The Rank Group is to launch a new bingo brand next year, which the operator claims will be the gambling industry’s first simultaneous launch across both online and retail.

The brand will be unveiled during H1 2017, with Rank having already identified a number of new venues which are now subject to planning permission.

The online version of the product will be launched on the Bede Gaming platform, the same platform Rank’s Mecca Bingo and Grosvenor Casinos’ businesses migrated to earlier this year.

And speaking to eGaming Review this morning, CEO Henry Birch (pictured) said he expects the brand to appeal to a different audience to its flagship Mecca Bingo business.

“Mecca is a very strong brand but it appeals to some people and not to others and I think we recognise that by having a different brand, we can probably capture a different set of the market and potentially a different demographic,” he said.

“We’re excited at being able to launch a retail and digital brand simultaneously as I don’t think anyone has ever done that in the gambling sector; two at one-time will be interesting,” Birch added.

Birch also said the decision to launch a new bingo brand to complement Mecca was spurred by its desire to have a new retail offering and as a reaction to changing player habits.

“If you look at Mecca and Gala Bingo clubs, they are typically large out-of-town venues that were the product of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s when times were very different and people went to out-of-town shopping centres with bingo very much more part of the fabric,” he told EGR.

“Now, I think similar to the town supermarkets like Tesco Metro and Sainsbury’s local, there is an opportunity for more convenience gaming and more city centre focus,” Birch continued.

Earlier today Rank reported an 11% rise in full-year online revenues, with strong growth from Grosvenor Casinos offsetting a “disappointing digital performance” for Mecca Bingo.