ORE CUSTOMER VISITS BUT LESS SPEND AT RANK PLC

Written On 4/14/11  By Recentpoker.com staff writer Jennifer Jearu :

But Brit gambling group reports good performance from its internet operations

The UK internet and land gambling company Rank Group plc has issued a trading update on the first 15 weeks of 2011, reporting that revenues grew 2 percent, with Rank Interactive and Mecca Bingo both achieving strong growth in revenues.

Rank Interactive did particularly well, with internet revenues up 23 percent and both Meccabingo.com and Bluesquare.com performing beyond expectations. Bluesquare increased its sportsbetting revenues by an impressive 40 percent, whilst Meccabingo.com boosted revenues through a successfully launched iPhone app in February.

Mecca Bingo revenue improved by 4 percent in the 15-week period as a result of a 4 percent growth in spend per visit.

However, the land casino operations in the Grosvenor Casino division produced disappointing results with an unusually low win margin, and Top Rank Espana was negatively impacted by the introduction of a full smoking ban in Spain at the beginning of the year.

At Grosvenor, there was a 12 percent rise in customer visits, but an 11 percent fall in average customer-spend.