The Rank Group has announced its trading is in line with expectations, with like-for-like net gaming revenue (NGR) up 69% for the first quarter of the 2021/22 financial period.

The UK-based gambling company, which operates Grosvenor Casinos, Mecca Bingo and the Spanish Enracha, released its quarterly trading statement for the period ended 30 September 2021, revealing that digital NGR saw a 5% bump, while its venues’ like-for-like NGR grew by 117% year-on-year.

Of its three business with in-person operations, Grosvenor performed best, netting more than £79m ($) for a 209% over 2020, though this figure is still down by 20% when compared to pre-Covid revenues.

Rank attributes this to the pandemic’s lingering effect on tourism in the English capital, saying: “London continues to feel the impact of reduced tourism, whilst outside London NGR is running at close to pre-pandemic levels.”

However, when looking at both Mecca Bingo and Enracha’s performance, whose venues posted £34m and £6m respectively, they also saw significant decreases, with Mecca’s NGR dropping by 22% and Enracha’s by 21% from the same quarter in 2019/2020.

According to the company, the latter’s performance was due to regulatory restrictions in Spain, and regarding the former’s performance, Rank said: “Visit numbers and NGR have gradually improved through the quarter, but visits from our older and more frequent customers have been slower to return than other cohorts,”

Despite these slight downturns, Rank’s digital businesses saw marked improvements, with its UK online segments seeing a return to growth in the quarter.

All-in-all, its UK-based digital businesses brought in over £38m for 4% growth on average, with Grosvenor leading the pack as its NGR from digital grew by 12%, largely driven, according to the company, by omni-channel players returning to its recently reopened casinos.