Over the years, Rank Group has diversified across both physical and digital mediums, as a response to changing audience needs.
LAND-BASED CASINOS
Grosvenor Casinos: Founded in 1970, Grosvenor Casinos is one of the most recognisable retail casino brands in the UK. At the time of writing, the brand has 53 clubs across the UK, with two further venues in Belgium. Grosvenor Casinos offer traditional table games, such as roulette and blackjack, as well as poker and slot machines. In 2014, Grosvenor Casinos partnered with Redtooth, the live pub poker tournament, to hold the national UK finals and other events.
Mecca Bingo: Established in 1961, Mecca Bingo operates bingo halls across UK, Belgium and Spain. In addition to live and electronic bingo games, Mecca Bingo also offers slot-style games at its properties.
Enracha: Operating as the Spanish-based casino division, Enracha venues offer bingo and electronic gaming areas. While Rank reports a much more uneven gender split at other brands, such as 4:1 male to female at Grosvenor casinos, Enracha reports that the split is much closer to 1:1.
ONLINE
GrosvenorCasinos.com: By taking its casino online, Rank has expanded the audience potential for the Grosvenor brand. The site offers poker, blackjack, roulette and slots. In 2016, Grosvenor announced that it would offer sports betting for both online and land-based players, and in 2022, the brand also launched specific sites for The Rialto and The Vic.
MeccaBingo.com: Similar to the Grosvenor site, Mecca Bingo also launched its own online website. This is available on both desktop, mobile browsers and with a dedicated app, where players can play bingo, slots, casino games and jackpots.
YoCasino.es: As another expansion into the Spanish markets, Rank launched its Yo brand. Along with Enracha, Yo offers an online casino experience for customers.
RummyPassion.com: One of the most recent developments by Rank, RummyPassion is an online rummy platform dedicated towards the Indian market.
Other Rank Online Brands:
- YoBingo.es
- BellaCasino.com
- KittyBingo.com
- LuckyPantsBingo.com
- MagicalVegas.com
- SpinAndWin.com
- RegalWins.com
HISTORY
Rank Group was originally formed in 1995 to assist in the day-to-day operations of Rank Organisation, a film and media conglomerate itself founded in 1937. With the decline of the film industry, the company focused its attention on leisure holdings. These included Pinewood Studios, Odeon Cinema and its nightclub division.
The first gambling presence from Rank can be seen in 1990, when Rank Organisation acquired Mecca Leisure Group for £512m ($819 million). At the time, this included Mecca hotels, theme parks, 85 bingo parlours and 11 Hard Rock Cafes.
Following this, Rank went on to purchase Hard Rock America from Peter Morton and Hard Rock Canada from Nick Bitove, meaning that Rank had global control of the brand. The Hard Rock Cafe was later sold to the Seminole Tribe of Florida in 2007 for $965m.
From the 2000s onward, Rank began to divest its interests. It sold most of its properties and facilities, selling Oasis Whinfell Forest to Center Parcs UK, and selling Butlins, Warner and Haven Holidays to Bourne Leisure. The company also sold its stake in Universal Studios Florida.
A few years later, in 2005, Rank sold Deluxe Film for £430m ($774m at the time). This, following the £65m sale of the Rank film library to Carlton Communications in 1997, completely severed its 60-year ties with the film industry.
In 2012, Rank agreed to a deal to purchase 23 casinos from Gala Coral in a deal worth £205. The Competition Commission would only approve the deal if four venues were excluded from the deal, which were Aberdeen, Bristol, Cardiff and Stockton-on-Tees. In a revised offer, omitting the necessary casinos, Rank purchased 19 casinos from Gala Coral for £179, making it the UK's largest casino operator.
Rank would rebrand the casinos under its Grosvenor Casino brand, which had 35 casinos across Britain at the time of the deal. At this time, Rank was also beginning to upgrade and rebrand select Grosvenor Casino clubs into the new G Casino format. These clubs would introduce live entertainment and additional activities into the clubs, while Grosvenor Casinos would remain a traditional casino facility.
Betfair would offer to buy Rank's interactive gaming business, Blue Square, in 2013. A deal was made for certain assets of Blue Square, including its customer database, which was migrated over to Betfair after the deal was completed for £5m.
Mecca Bingo and Rank Group renewed their contract in January 2017, which would solidify their relations for a further 10 years. As part of the deal, Mecca Bingo was guaranteed access to the Virtue Fusion platform offered by Playtech.
