Rank had been expecting the refund but management estimated on 25 February that they would receive £65 million plus interest so they will have been delighted to get almost £10 million more than they had expected.

Shares in Rank shot up 16.5 pence to 146 pence on the news, a rise of 12.7 per cent.

HM Revenue and Customs are appealing against the VAT ruling, which was on interval bingo games, and Rank will have to pay back all the money if the case is reversed in the European courts.

Sun Bingo has been online since 2006 and has become the number one place for bingo players to play after years of hard work, excellent offers and fantastic promotions.

The highlight of Sun Bingo’s offers last year has to be when they gave away 30 cars in 30 days in a promotion that could not be found anywhere else on the web.

Mecca Bingo repeated their second placed finish of 2009 and will be delighted to have finished first in the CM of the Year as well as runner-up in Site of the Year.

Moon Bingo, a rejuvinated site in 2010, managed an incredible third placed finish after a relaunch and their first ever TV advertisement propelled them to the forefront of online bingo in the UK.

Along with the Site of the Year award, Which Bingo also ran their fourth successive New Site of the Year vote, which this year goes to Bingo Hollywood.

Bingo Hollywood was launched in April 2010 and has become popular amongst players for its glamorous site and excellent deposit bonus.

Bingo Giving, a new site that donates a percentage of every jackpot to charity came second, while Moon Bingo came third in this vote as well.

The votes this year was very close, with Bingo Hollywood coming just behind the Mecca team in second place, while Crown Bingo and the Better Bingo Network came in a well deserved third place.

WooHoo Bingo has carved out an excellent reputation for friendly Chat Moderators and an excellent bingo community and is the most popular free bingo site in the UK. It’s CM’s managed to come fourth in 2010′s poll.

FreeBingo.co.uk came fifth, while sixth place went to the team at BingoPort. Costa Bingo, Cyber Bingo and Bingo Playground came seventh, eighth and ninth respectively, with 888 Ladies rounding off the top ten.

If any BingoNews reader would like to vote on CM of the Month for January they can do so here.

It was a good night for the bingo industry with operators across the bingo spectrum putting up a surprisingly strong show in the keenly contested awards.

WooHoo Bingo, a fast-growing entrant to the free bingo market who only launched in October 2009, won Social Networking Operator of the Year for their integration of WooHoo Bingo into Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites. QuickThink Media won the award for Innovative Gaming Site of the Year for their Free Bingo Hunter website.

In the Bingo Operator of the Year category Tombola Bingo beat off 888 Bingo, Crown Bingo, Jackpot Joy, Costa Bingo, Mecca Bingo, Party Bingo and William Hill Bingo.

Phil Cronin, owner of Tombola, last night told Bingo News: “I am delighted to have won the award and it really is a reflection on all the hard work our whole team has put in.”

Ian Erskine, director of WooHoo Bingo, said: “Given we are such a young company we are delighted to have been named Social Networking Operator of the Year. It is a very competitive area to operate in and we want to thank all our users for making WooHoo Bingo such a successful site.”

The player managed to spin five matching tiger symbols in the middle line to win the progressive jackpot. The prize amount won depends on the amount wagered by the player.

The lucky players username on Mecca Bingo is Dudderbear and she is a mother of two from Leeds, Yorkshire. She has played on Mecca Bingo for around a year after signing up when she saw a flyer in her local bingo hall in Leeds.

She told the Mecca Bingo website, ““When my win came up on the screen my mouth just dropped open! I ran and told my mum but she didn’t believe me! My mum has a broken leg so she couldn’t jump around the room with me! She was my calm influence.”

Dudderbear said she plans to use some of the winnings to buy a new car.

Gala Bingo and Mecca Bingo will be going head to head later this month in a 5-aside football match to raise vital funds for their respective charities – Sue Ryder Care and Marie Curie Cancer Care.

Despite the friendly rivalry between the leading bingo operators, the two Plymouth-based Gala Bingo clubs and Mecca Devonport will be working together on Monday, August 30 to ensure as much money as possible is raised for charity.

As well as the football which kicks-off at 1pm, they will also be holding a fete including raffles and book stalls at the Plymouth Stonehouse Recreation Ground, which they hope will be supported not only by their bingo regulars but also by other members of the wider community.

All the money raised will be split equally between the two charities. Half will go towards Gala Bingo’s group charity, Sue Ryder Care, which provides end of life and long-term care to people living with conditions including cancer, Huntingdon’s disease, multiple sclerosis, and patients recovering from strokes and will contribute towards Gala Coral Group’s pledge to raise a total of £1.5million for the charity by the end of 2010.

The other half will go to Marie Cure Cancer Care as part of its 2010 partnership with Mecca Bingo. Marie Curie Cancer Care is one of the UK’s largest charities. Employing more than 2,700 nurses, doctors and other healthcare professionals, it expects to provide care to around 29,000 terminally ill patients in the community and in its hospices this year and is the largest provider of hospice beds outside the NHS. Mecca Bingo is aiming to raise enough money to fund 10,000 hours of home nursing care.

Organiser and manager of Gala Bingo Derry Cross, David Gregory-Clements, said: “It’s really gaining some momentum now and we’re all looking forward to the day. This five-a-side tournament not only allows us to generate a bit of friendly rivalry between the local bingo clubs but also to do something really positive for both of our charities. We are all hoping the day will be well supported. May the best team win!”

Mecca Devonport General Manager, Nigel Green, commented: “The team has been training hard and we are all really pleased to be taking on a rival local bingo club to raise money for both charities! It should certainly be a lot of fun on the day and we hope our customers and team members will come along to show their support and help us raise a lot of money.”

Edward Timpson visited the Mecca Bingo hall in Crewe on the Friday before the election and even took his mother and the team from his office to join in the fun.

Timpson has been a leading campaigner for the reduction in tax on bingo and on his personal website even boasts on the day of the election that he has put his “constituents before my party, and [has] rebelled on important local issues like reducing bingo taxation for 20,000 Crewe and Nantwich bingo players”.

He told the Crewe Guardian: “I’ve enjoyed another fun evening here today, and bumped into many people I know, some of whom I have helped in my surgeries! Everybody I’ve spoken to can see the tax is unfair to the industry and effectively discriminates against women and older people.”

Timpson, 36, is apparently a reasonably regular visitor to the Crewe Mecca Bingo hall following his win in a by-election in May 2008. He comes from the Timpson shoe repair family and was a barrister before being elected a MP, in a contest which was marked by a campaign in which Labour branded him a ‘toff’.

Timpson is rated a 2/5 chance (bet £5 to make £2 profit) with Ladbrokes in the Crewe and Nantwich election betting odds.

Timpson recently ran his eighth London Marathon in four hours and 26 minutes.

Mecca Bingo halls struggled in January due to the hard winter throughout the U.K, the poor weather served to reduce numbers of people going out to play bingo.

Describing the early part of 2010 as “encouraging”,  a statement from Rank Group outlined their confidence in reaching its prospective targets for the full year and long-term growth.

As a whole the group saw like for like sales increase by four per cent in the 16 weeks to April 18th and a 10 per cent rise in total revenue.

Rank owns 103 bingo halls and 34 casinos all over Great Britain and has reinstated its dividend after a better than forecasted improvement in pre-tax profits.

Why play bingo anywhere else when every 90 ball ticket you buy could win you £10,000 at Mecca??

the Details

Starting on April 1st, Mecca Bingo’s 33 ball jackpot will be a minimum of £10,000. If the jackpot has not been won, midday is the earliest point they will start to increase the ball count to ensure they have a lucky winner before midnight.

Any customer who buys a ticket with real funds in the winning game when the jackpot is won will also get a share of £1000 which will be credited to your account the next day!

Your fortune could be just one ticket away!

Be Lucky

Grand Night in

Every Monday in April! 8.45pm – 10.45pm

Join Mecca Bingo every Monday in April for a Grand Night In with Bingo Jackpots galore and extra value chat games!

Mecca Bingo have added an extra £5000 in bingo jackpots to Monday evenings between 8.45pm and 10.45pm.

All the Details

Play in Dancing Queen or Legs Eleven and play in one of our 5 x £1000 jackpot games. Tickets will cost you just 25p and they have added £250 to the chat games budget which has to be given away in just 2 hours!

In just 4 weeks Mecca Bingo guarantee to give away over £20,000, so make sure you come on down for a Grand Night In with Mecca.

Sunday’s £10,000 Private Room

Monday 5th April to Sunday 2nd May

All this month you can qualify for Mecca Bingo’s weekly £10,000 Sunday Giveaway. All you have to do is spend £30 on bingo tickets from Monday to Thursday to qualify for Sunday’s free private room where you can play for £10,000.

All types of bingo qualify as spend!

The private room will have £10,000 up for grabs in jackpots and chat games with FREE tickets for all that qualify! Each free game will have a £300 jackpot and there will be 30 of them back to back! Also the CM on duty will have £1000 to play chat games with!

The Details

Qualifying periods will run from Monday – Thursday every week in April.

• Monday 5th April- Thursday 8th April: Private room Sunday 11th April
• Monday 12th April – Thursday 15th April: Private room Sunday 18th April
• Monday 19th April – Thursday 22nd April: Private room Sunday 25th April
• Monday 26th April – Thursday 29th April: Private room Sunday 2nd May

To qualify for Sunday’s private room you must spend £30 on bingo tickets from Monday – Thursday, (you can spend it all on one day or spread it out over the 4 days) when you do you will receive a pop up message letting you know you have qualified.

Mecca Bingo halls profits fell from £37.9million in 2008 to £32.3million last year. This is a fall of nearly 15 per cent and the reason behind it, according to  Rank Group, is the increased levels of taxation brought in by the government. The bingo hall’s performance was also adversely affected by the poor weather at the start and end of 2009.

Following this, the owners of Mecca Bingo, Rank Group PLC have called for a simplification of the gambling tax system in the UK and a system that will increase fairness for bingo halls, casinos and online gaming companies.

Ian Burke, Rank Group Chief Executive said, “At the moment the gaming and betting activities of UK consumers are subject to a patchwork quilt of taxation, without any apparent logic or relationship to social policy.” He continued his argument by adding, “It is particularly concerning that the current system of taxation seems to be undermining the aims of the Gambling Act by imposing the highest rates of duty on those venues which provide the greatest degree of supervision and have the lowest rates of underage gambling.”

Under current government legislation there are seven different tax regimes covering all online and offline gaming activities governed by the Gambling Act. All internet betting that is licenced offshore faces no taxation, UK based internet betting has a flat rate of 15 per cent for all types of gaming. Betting at bookmakers, bingo halls and casinos has many different rates.

The system proposed by Rank Group will mean that there is a 15 per cent rate on all gambling activities currently governed by the Gambling Act, including sports betting, poker, bingo, casino games, football pools and amusement machines.  This will not only simplify the current system hugely, it will also mean that UK companies providing online gaming will not be penalised by the fact that offshore domiciled companies providing similar gambling activities have no duty to pay.

It has been suggested that the UK Government could increase its tax takings from the gambling sector by imposing this new, simplified rate of duty.

Top ten Luckiest Days

• February 27
• May 2
• June 30
• May 1
• February 28
• January 29
• February 6
• January 31
• February 7
• January 24

The leading online bingo site, which pays out more than £65 million per month, also revealed that Julie and David were the luckiest names in 2009, closely followed by Susan and Paul.

To gain a further understanding of what factors contribute to making a person luckier in life, Gala Bingo commissioned a poll and discovered one in three Brits would change their name by deed poll if it meant luck was guaranteed.

Additionally, nearly half of UK residents felt that their name had influenced their personality for the better.

Top Ten Luckiest Names

• Julie
• Susan
• Sharon
• Janet
• Margaret
• David
• Patricia
• Christine
• Linda
• Paul

Professor Geoff Beattie said: “Certain names such as Julie and David do seem to be perceived as luckier than others because they have more positive associations. If you have a name that’s consistently seen positively then good things will happen to you and you will seem lucky. In other words, lucky names might well be those that have the biggest unconscious positive influence on those around us. Imagine the long-term influence of this positive halo effect – credit is given, even where credit may not be due.”

In celebration of the results, Gala Bingo and Gala TV will be hosting a series of lucky themed games on Saturday (27 February).

Gala Bingo will be giving away £9k between 11.55am-11pm in its ‘Lucky 7′ games and anyone calling a full house on a ball number ending in a 7 during the Gala TV live show (5pm-1am) will win a bonus of £77!

Lesley Hall, online PR manager at Gala Bingo, said: “We hope that we can make February 27 as lucky as it was in 2009 and even more people playing bingo get the chance to become one of our 500,000 monthly winners.”

The winner is known as 12plumpkin online and scooped the £21,000 prize on January 16th in Mecca’s weekly escalator jackpot.

The winner, a loyal player at Mecca Bingo said, “I love playing bingo so it is absolutely amazing to win!”

Describing herself as “stunned” when she first realised that her win was real, 12plumpkin plans to use some of the winnings for a family holiday especially to treat her two sons and five grandchildren.

The Meccabingo.com £20,000 January Jackpots are won simply by playing any 90 ball bingo game on the site and if the jackpot hasn’t gone by Saturday, the ball count needed to win will increase to ensure that some lucky player like 12plumpkin will win the prize!

The improvement in sales at the end of last year means that Rank Groups earnings per share will be at the high end of estimates from industry analysts. The predictions indicated that Rank Group shares would have an adjusted earnings per share of between 6.8 pence to 8.1 pence.

Rank Group has said that it is expanding restaurant and bar areas and adding electronic gambling machines at bingo halls, and is seeking to attract more female customers with its “G Casino” brand conversions. In a statement earlier in the week Rank added that its online gambling sites attracted more bingo, casino and poker business.

“Grosvenor is proving far more resilient in a recession than first thought, and its G Casino rebranding is working”, said Nick Batram, an analyst with KBC Peel Hunt who has raised his recommendation to “buy” from “hold”.

Comparable sales grew 2 per cent in the 12 weeks ended December 27, which compares with 1 % for the year to that date, the company said in the statement. Total sales gained 6 per cent at the year-end period, compared with 3 % for the full year, the company said.

Rank said its cost control, with lower utility rates and stable employment expenses, plus lower financing costs helped boost 2009 earnings.

Mecca Bingo’s parent company, Rank Group plc, announced a 12 and 52 week trading update this morning which showed that revenues were flat year-on-year. In the last 12 weeks to 27 December 2009 attendances remained comparable with last year despite the terrible weather affecting Britain in the last three months of the year.

Rank said that profits in their interactive division, which includes Mecca Bingo’s online bingo operation, was up 7 per cent year-on-year. Profits were helped by an improvement in the company’s Blue Square sports betting operation.

Rank’s Spanish bingo operation continued to suffer from the appalling state of the Spanish economy. In euros revenues dropped per cent, customer visits fell 4 per cent and spend per visit declined 5 per cent. The strength of the euro meant that the group reported a 2 per cent increase in revenues in sterling terms on a year-on-year basis.

Overall Rank Group grew 3 per cent on an annual basis, mainly thanks to growth in their Grosvenor Casino business and a change in the taxation of bingo which increases revenues but reduces profits. Performance in the final 12 weeks fo the year was particularly strong with the group showing a 6 per cent revenue increase.

The company said: “During 2009, Rank delivered an encouraging trading performance in an uncertain consumer climate. The Group’s land-based businesses each strengthened their market positions through operational improvements and considered investment to enhance standards of service and product.”

Leading gaming analyst Paul Leyland of Collins Stewart reiterated a sell of Rank’s shares, with a target price of 40 pence against a current trading price of 92 pence. In a note to clients he said: “We have three key concerns for Rank Group during 2010E. First, consumer confidence remains uncertain and the delicate balancing act of increasing spend per head in bingo to mitigate negative spend could easily become upset. Second, while Rank may have been given a minor boost in trimming bingo duty (20% from 22%, worth c. £2.5m), we remain concerned that a change in machine duty could hurt (Rank’s ‘break even’ rate is c. 15%, the bookmakers c. 18%). Finally, Rank remains a c. 10% operating margin business (vs. bookmakers c. 25%) with a high fixed cost base, meaning a small erosion in revenue can have a significant impact on the bottom line (roughly -1% revenue = -10% PBT). It could also be dangerous to bank historic VAT claims (£59.1m received, £25.9m expected in Q1, a further £16m claimed) ahead of the HMRC appeal decision (Q2 2010), especially given the state of Rank’s balance sheet.”

He said that with Rank trading on an 11 times multiple and were a sell, saying that William Hill offered much better value within the gaming sector.

Shares in Rank were up 2 per cent in early trading on the back of the results.

The site, which only finished 18th in the awards in 2008, beat off Mecca Bingo, who finished second, and Wink Bingo in third place. Tombola Bingo finished fourth and Bingo Playground finished fifth. What was most suprising was to see Crown Bingo finish 12th and Foxy Bingo finish 17th, suggesting that the company’s management teams did not put the same effort into a high finish as in previous years. Gala Bingo’s 21st place was also suprisingly low for a site that until three years ago was the dominant presence in UK online bingo. The total absensce of William Hill Bingo and Paddy Power Bingo, both of whom have huge bingo sites, is also somewhat suprising.

In the New Bingo Site of the Year award Golden Hat Bingo saw off Giggle Bingo and Landmark Bingo. Cheeky Bingo and Costa Bingo were third and fourth respectively.

Ruairi Boyle, Head of Games & Bingo at Ladbrokes Bingo welcomed the award, saying: “It’s the most prestigious Award in online Bingo and we’re thrilled to win it. We want to share this success with all our roomies who voted for us and helped us to the top of the Bingo pile. We’re already looking to 2010 to retain our title. New players, exciting innovations for existing roomies and more promotions, games and jackpots than anyone else are all in our sights. But right now we’re in the mood to party and 31 January will be a great day for everyone in Bingo.” Ladbrokes Bingo will offer free bingo to all their players on 31 January.

The top 30 finishers in the UK award were:

1 Ladbrokes Bingo
2 Mecca Bingo
3 Wink Bingo
4 Tombola Bingo
5 Bingo Playground
6 Golden Hat Bingo
7 Giggle Bingo
8 Betfred Bingo
9 Posh Bingo
10 Gone Bingo
11 Totesport Bingo
12 Crown Bingo
13 Harry’s Bingo
14 Jackpot Joy
15 CyberBingo.co.uk
16 Landmark Bingo
17 Foxy Bingo
18 House of Bingo
19 Costa Bingo
20 BingoSKY
21 Gala Bingo Online
22 FreeBingo.co.uk
23 Play2Win Bingo
24 Cheeky Bingo
25 888ladies
26 Bingo MagiX
27 Bingos.co.uk
28 BingoLiner UK
29 Platinum Play Bingo
30 Snap Bingo

New Bingo Site of the Year 2010
1 Golden Hat Bingo
2 Giggle Bingo
3 Landmark Bingo
4 Cheeky Bingo
5 Costa Bingo
6 Betfred Bingo
7 Moon Bingo
8 Eat Sleep Bingo
9 JackpotCity Bingo
10 Foxy Zero
11 Totesport Bingo
12 BOGOF Bingo
13 Play2Win Bingo
14 Tea Time Bingo
15 Epic Bingo
16 Kiss My Bingo
17 LiveBingo.co.uk
18 OK! Mag Bingo
19 Bloke Bingo
20 Eyes Down Bingo
21 Bingo Nation
22 3am Bingo
23 BingoG

1. Bingo companies will continue to be acquired/merge – One of the final stories of the year was 888′s acquisition of Daub Ltd, owner of Wink Bingo and Posh Bingo. Last summer Party Gaming acquired Cashcade, owner of Foxy Bingo, Think Bingo, Cheeky Bingo, Bingo Scotland and operator of Mirror Bingo. It is clear that major online gaming operators need to have bingo as part of their mix yet many do not have a presence in the market. Bwin, Sportingbet and the Mangas stable (BetClick etc) spring to mind as potential acquirers while potential targets include Crown Bingo (and their stable of valuable European bingo networks), Tombola and that old perennial target Gamesys/Jackpot Joy. Software providers with a bingo specialism will also prove interesting to companies like Playtech; Virtue Fusion and Cozy Games are the most likely to be acquired.

Where small operators start to struggle to run their operations we expect them to hand over their operations to the more experienced and better organised rivals, taking a profit share on the sites but leaving day-to-day operations to the experts.

2. New bingo sites will continue to launch – Although most people agree that the market is swamped in the UK, new sites continue to be launched. It is surprising how many software providers are willing to provide sites to partners with a very low marketing budget and no obvious strategy to enter a highly competitive market. While some launches such as Tea and Bingo may work because of their ownership of media sites such as Bingo Base, others look certain to be a waste of time and money for all involved. Expect

3. New markets will not be as successful as many people hope - Three years ago everyone expected Spain to be the next big thing in bingo. Ask anyone in that market how they are doing and most will answer that it has been a major disappointment. Poor credit card penetration, low broadband use among the target demographic, a lack of marketing outlets and an economy in a state of collapse are all cited as reasons. But perhaps the Spanish market is just very different from the UK? Sweden and Denmark seem to be doing better for some operators while a lot of bingo executives are keen on the chances of Italy and France, especially the former.

4. Tax is going to go up – Most governments around the world are up to their eyeballs in debt. The UK government has an interest bill in excess of £40 billion a year to pay off and while cuts in public service employment will help reduce costs somewhat the easiest way to pay the bill is to increase tax. And gambling companies are easy targets. Don’t be suprised if gaming companies who want to target the UK market are required to return to the UK and pay UK taxes.

5. Innovation is going to be key – Whether it is social networking, live bingo broadcasts or some other technology innovation, the leaders in bingo are going to embrace new technology solutions.  Very few bingo sites use Facebook or Twitter effectively and while this may currently be a niche area for gambling operators now, understanding technology is going to be key for the forseeable future. Software developers and bingo operators are going to have to work together to increase the community element of their sites, because of all gambling operations bingo is far the best suited to social networking.

It will be interesting to see which of these trends is the most dominant in 2010 – but it is clear that it will not be a year of standing still.

Foxy Bingo was one of six companies shortlisted for the highly coveted award. The judges commended them for their large number of networks, their extensive television spend and the launch of Cheeky Bingo.

Their competitors for the award were Tombola Bingo, Jackpot Joy, Ladbrokes Bingo, William Hill Bingo and Wink Bingo.

The result was largely expected by the bingo industry following the sale of Foxy’s parent company, Cashcade, to Party Gaming earlier this year. Simon Collins, Cashcade’s marketing director and co-founder, collected the award from comic Mark Watson.

It was interesting to see that neither Gala Bingo or Mecca Bingo, the dominant high street bingo brands, were shortlisted for the award. Last year’s winner and runner up, 888 Ladies and Crown Bingo respectively, apparently did not even enter the awards this year.

The top prize – Operator of the Year – was won by Bwin, the leading pan-European sports, casino and poker operator.

See the full list of 2009 eGaming Award winners

Foxy Bingo, Gala Bingo, Jackpot Joy, Wink Bingo, Skybet and 888 Ladies have all been shortlisted.

Gala Bingo, Codere, Cirsa Bingo and Mecca Bingo have been shortlisted for the 2010 Offline Bingo Operator of the Year Award. The title winner will a tough decision for judges. All four companies have struggled in the past year as online bingo erodes the real world bingo market and economic pressures have affected all four of the contenders. Gala Bingo won the 2009 award.

One leading rival bingo operator who failed to be shortlisted for the award said: “I’ve never even heard of these awards before. Gaming awards dinners seem to be cropping up every 10 days at the moment, mainly for the purpose of making the organisers lots of money.”

The shortlisted companies are Cashcade (Foxy Bingo), Gamesys (Jackpot Joy Bingo), Ladbrokes Bingo, Spacebar Media (Wink Bingo), Tombola and William Hill Bingo.

Two of the shortlisted sites run on Virtue Fusion software (Ladbrokes Bingo and WIlliam Hill Bingo), two run on Globalcom software (Foxy Bingo and Wink Bingo) and the remaining two use their own in-house software.

Bingo News staff thought Foxy Bingo and Tombola Bingo were the most likely winners with Gamesys a possible outsider, even though a very small proportion of their profits come from online bingo.

One surprise ommission from the list is Crown Bingo who were runners-up in the Online Bingo Operator category last year. A spokesman for Crown Bingo told Bingo News: “We decided not to enter this year as one of the judging criteria was the size of your business and we felt that we would struggle to compete against businesses the size of Cashcade or Tombola in the judging. We hope the criteria will be changed next year as we think otherwise we would have had a very good shot at winning it this time around.”

It is also surprising to see both Gala Bingo and Mecca Bingo, the two giants of the bingo hall world, fail to even get shortlisted for these prestigous awards.

The submission says that in order for Rank Group to not suffer from the switch to a gross profit tax (GPT) on slot machines that the rate would have to be set at 15 per cent.

“This level of taxation would be consistent with the current rates of general betting duty (sports betting), remote gaming duty (internet betting and gaming), football pools duty and the starting rate of casino gaming duty,” the submission states.

The company says that Mecca Bingo would bear the majority of the cost of the tax. It also warns of the danger of setting the rate any higher than 15 per cent: “The submission also confirms Rank’s analysis of the effects on Group profits should GPT be set higher than 15%. Rank estimates that it would incur at least £1 million per annum in additional taxation for every percentage point over the 15% neutral rate. Within Rank, these costs would mainly be borne by Mecca Bingo.”

Rank used Ernst & Young to calculate the potential implications of the tax changes.

The full submission can be seen here.

By contrast, the performance of Mecca Bingo’s online website was very encouraging and helped Rank Interactive, the online arm of Mecca Bingo’s parent company, to show a small growth in revenue despite a terrible run of sports betting results.

Customer visits at Mecca Bingo halls declined 3% based on a comparison with the same period in 2008 but customer spend increased 4%, largely thanks to the introduction of new slot machines.

Revenue across Mecca Bingo increased 3% for the 14 weeks to 4 October 2009 but much of this was down to the change in bingo taxation which has the effect of increasing revenue numbers but reducing operating profit figures.

The company said that the ‘Full House’ Mecca Bingo hall in Beeston, Nottinghamshire was performing particularly well and the comnpany planned to convert four bingo halls into ‘Full House’ style bingo halls before June 2010, starting with Mecca Bingo in Catford which will be relaunched in December.

Rank Interactive saw an 8% decrease in revenues against a backdrop of a 37% decline in sportsbook revenues, suggesting that Mecca Bingo online was a very strong performance in their Internet division.

However Rank Group’s Spanish bingo business, Top Rank Espana, suffered badly as the Spanish economy was hit hard by recession. Revenue in euros fell 10%, customer visits fell 3% and spend per visit was down 9%, although the stronger euro meant that Rank Group only saw a 1% decline in revenues when stated in sterling terms. The company said they were gaining market share and had hopes that their three clubs in the Madrid Autonomous Region would benefit from new regulations to be introduced in late October that will allow new gaming machines into their clubs.

Elsewhere in Rank Group the Grosvenor Casinos saw customer visits up 16% and revenues increased 5% on a year-on-year basis but spend per visit fell 9%.

Rank Group management sounded a cautiously optimistic view on the business, saying: “The Group’s positive trading performance reflects the success of the actions we have taken to improve the value and quality of the service that we offer our customers and thus to grow market share.”

Virtue Fusion, the software company that powers top bingo sites including Crown Bingo, Ladbrokes Bingo, WIlliam Hill Bingo, Bet365 Bingo, Mecca Bingo, Paddy Power Bingo and Sky Bingo, have signed a deal with Endemol, who own the rights to the Deal Or No Deal game show.

The exclusive deal has allowed Virtue Fusion to spend the last four months developing an exciting new variation on online bingo in which the winner gets to play against the Banker

Virtue Fusion will also launch scratchcards for Endemol formats including Big Brother and Golden Balls, as well as for Deal Or No Deal. They are expected to release mini games and slot games in future software updates.

Bob McCulloch, chief executive of Virtue Fusion, told Bingo News: “This represents a huge opportunity for our operators to partake in this exclusive contract. This deal with Endemol is further evidence of our determination to strengthen our product range and provide the tools with which to progress our business ahead of the competition.”

Jurian van der Meer, Endemol UK’s Head of Products and Brand Exploitation, said: “Deal or No Deal is one of Endemol’s biggest TV hits worldwide and I’m really excited to see it combined with bingo to create a new entertainment experience. By partnering with Virtue Fusion to develop the game we’re able to distribute to some of the biggest operators in the bingo industry.”

Party Gaming, parent company of Party Gaming and the new owner of Cashcade, who run Foxy Bingo, Cheeky Bingo, Little Big Bingo, Think Bingo and Bingo Scotland, was highest on the list at no 2.

Six of the top ten placed companies get significant revenue contributions from online bingo. Bet 365, who run Bet365 Bingo, came in at fourth, followed by William Hill and Ladbrokes at fifth and sixth. Paddy Power was placed eight with Unibet, who own Maria Bingo, placed at ninth.

Of the companies that are more closely associated with bingo rather than a portfolio of online gambling interests, Gamesys was placed highest at no 32, down from no 28 last year. Gamesys run Sun Bingo on behalf of News International as well Jackpot Joy, one of the most successful bingo, slots and scratchcards businesses in the UK.

Nerxt in the list were Gala Coral, parent company of Gala Bingo, who have slid rapidly down the Power 50 from a position of 11th last year.

NetPlay, who own the bingos.com brand and aim to bring interactive gambling to our TV screens, was placed at no 37, up six places from last year. While NetPlay seem great at doing deals, not everyone in the online gambling industry is convinced that they will generate the revenues that their share price seems to suggest they might.

At no 38 is a new entry in the shape of Tombola, who used to run Sun Bingo and now operate one of the biggest online bingo sites in the UK. Under the quiet but confident direction of owner Phil Cronin they have shown incredible growth and impressive player numbers.

Rank Group, the owner of Mecca Bingo, was placed at 40th, down from 26th last year. Like Gala Bingo they have struggled to convert their strong position in bingo halls into the online world and they have had difficulties making their middle managers cross-sell the bingo product to their real world customers.

Last on the list at no 50 was another new entry, Crown Bingo. Crown was praised for its management team and for punching above its weight in a crowded online gaming space.

She will stop work next Wednesday, 26 August. There is no immediate replacement for her as the company is still trying to recruit someone of a similar standard.

Emma, whose title was Affiliate Marketing Assistant, has not ruled out a return to the bingo world at some point but will focus on her teacher training course at university over the next year.

She told Bingo News that bingo may still lure her back. “I could do with the money alongside my student loan,” she said.

The clubs, which will cost around £1.5 million each, will have restaurants, table service for drinks and aims to upgrade the bingo club experience to attract younger, wealthier customers.

Rank chief executive Ian Burke told This Is Business East Midlands: “We developed the new concept which we launched in Beeston. We plan to re-model two more clubs in the second half of the year which will open in the first half of next year. Depending on their performance, we will roll out the idea to more of our existing 103 clubs across the country.”

Approximately 60 jobs are expected to be created by the two club upgrades.