Our external environment

Venues

Mecca venues

Highly trusted and community focused, Mecca is our land-based brand known for its friendly welcome and the opportunity to win big.

With the bingo market in decline for a number of years there is a need to evolve and create more accessible, modern and lively venues with exciting food and beverage offers.

Since the pandemic we have seen a recovery, but we do not expect the market to reach pre-pandemic levels for at least five years.

The sector has been further impacted by rising cost pressures. It has become more polarised, with strong venues doing well, and others becoming unviable, which will lead to further consolidation in the market.

• The average Mecca customer age is 44, while our most frequent customers are females between 60 and 70 years old.
• 13% of customers are higher frequency visitors, while 87% are recreational players.
• 87% of customers only play at venues, while 13% of our visitors also participate across digital channels.

Grosvenor venues

The UK’s leading casino chain, Grosvenor also offers customers great meals, live acts and non-stop sporting action on larger-than- life big screens.

A combination of enhanced Safer Gambling protocols and the post COVID-19 fall in visitors have resulted in a reduction in the profitability of the casino sector.

8% of the UK adult population were regular casino visitors in 2019, but a quarter of these have lapsed since the pandemic, with the market yet to fully recover.

The Gambling Act Review represents a once in a generation opportunity to extend the appeal of casinos and to modernise our electronic offering. See pages 28 to 29 for more.

• The average Grosvenor customer age is 35. Customers that visit the most are between 26 and 40 years and those who spend the most are over 41.
• A further 6% of adults would consider visiting a casino if they felt that it would be a fun, enjoyable, friendly and welcoming experience while retaining the thrill and excitement of playing in a casino.
• The male to female split for Grosvenor's customers is 4:1.

Enracha venues

Through Enracha, our Spanish land-based venues brand, we provide a predominantly bingo-based gaming experience.

Pub gaming machines and bingo have declined in Spain in recent years, with the rise of slot arcades and growth in sports betting.

On top of this, COVID-19 had a severe impact on visits to bingo venues while boosting online gambling channels to record highs.

Since regulatory restrictions reduced the size of available prizes customers now prioritise customer service and are looking for comfortable and modern electronic gaming areas, offering games with customised jackpots and loyalty card functionality.

• Enracha’s biggest customer group is in the 18 to 25 age category – they make up 22% of our total customers, while only generating 9% of our total visits.
• People aged over 65 represent just 13% of our customers, but generate 28% of visits.
• The most loyal and frequent Enracha customers are males over 65 years old, with an average of 1.2 visits per month.

Digital

UK interactive/digital 

The UK’s digital gambling market is fast moving, competitive and subject to strict regulation, but is still structurally attractive in size with clear headroom for us to grow our brands.

UK digital bingo market 

Customers are looking for a safe, secure and intuitive gaming experience, with more chances to win and easy pay-outs when they do. They want a reliable app and more variety, from promotions that cater for a wider range of budgets, to the games and features available.

The experience needs to be more interactive, offer free-to-play mechanics that allows money to go further, and come with safer gambling tools throughout the customer journey.

• Significant growth opportunity: 20% of the UK population have played online bingo in the last 12 months.
• Similar age demographic to venues: the average online Mecca player is 43 years old, only slightly younger than that for Mecca venues at 44 years.

UK digital casino market

Customers want exciting and entertaining experiences, as well as great looking sites that offer the latest games and strong promotions. They prefer sites that provide tools to help them control their spend and reward loyalty.

They are looking for opportunities to win big, with swift and seamless payment of winnings.

• Opportunities for growth, specifically around slots and poker: 20% of the UK population played online casino in the last 12 months.
• Younger age demographic to venues: the average online Grosvenor casino player is 40 years old, older than that for Grosvenor venues at 35 years.

The digital and cross-channel opportunity for Rank

The UK continues to be a large and attractive digital gambling market – and with around 3% market share, there is clear headroom for us to grow. In Grosvenor and Mecca, we have leading casino and bingo brands, as well as proprietary technology and strong digital marketing capabilities.

With our 116 venues, we are uniquely placed to provide a cross-channel experience for both bingo and casino customers. Cross-channel customers tend to have higher level of engagement and loyalty than single channel customers. And with only 6% of our in-person customers playing with us both in venue and online there is significant opportunity to grow our cross-channel customer base.

We will also look to diversify the products we offer – through sports betting, live casino and new bingo games. And building on our existing international operations, we will explore opportunities for growth beyond the UK. Over the next 18 months we will work on the core platform, technology, data and product developments we need to unlock these opportunities, including building the potential to integrate international digital businesses through partnerships and/or acquisitions.