Ever fancied calling house and getting your mortgage paid? In our final weekly prize draw, one lucky customer will have their mortgage or rent paid for by Mecca Bingo for a whole year! Play in any of Mecca Bingo's 2 daily House Bingo games from Monday to Thursday and you could win either a cash prize or a fantastic voucher to spend on your house!
Read more...
Mecca Bingo’s bingo hall business has stablised in the first six months of the year and their online business is a major priority, according to their parent company Rank Group. In a trading statement updating the market on the first six months of 2009′s financial performance, Rank Group issued an upbeat statement. Rank’s chief executive, [...]
Read more...
A bingo hall held a party for its oldest member – who at 103 claims the game helps keep her young. The Mecca Bingo hall in Knotty Ash, Liverpool held a giant party for Sally Melia, who has been a member for 43 years. The suprise party was held on a Saturday night, which is [...]
Read more...
“The boss of Mecca Bingo in Gloucester has attacked his local MP over the politician’s failure to stick up for bingo in a parliamentary vote. Paul Hornigold, manager of Mecca Bingo in Eastgate Street, Gloucester, said Gloucester MP Parmjit Dhanda had agreed to support the city’s bingo hall; but when it came to a vote [...]
Read more...
Mecca Bingo’s plan to focus their online bingo marketing on pay per click and search engine optimisation strategies has left rival operators amazed. In an interview with eGaming Review, Mecca Bingo boss Angus Nisbet said that free bingo and spending huge amounts on TV advertising was not going to be a strategy they would aim [...]
Read more...
The Mecca Bingo online slots player who won over £1.2 million last week, as exclusively revealed by Bingo News, has picked up her winnings. The woman has asked not to be named but she plays under the name ‘houses73′ and is from Cumbria. She picked up the huge cheque at the SAS Radisson Hotel, Manchester. [...]
Read more...
Mecca Bingo has been advised that Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has lodged an appeal against last month’s High Court ruling that the bingo company was entitled to a £59.1 million VAT refund. In May and August 2008, the VAT & Duties Tribunal upheld Rank’s respective claims that the inconsistent application of VAT to [...]
Read more...
Market research specialists Mintel have published their latest report on the UK bingo market. The report, titled “Bingo – UK – April 2009″, examines the effect of the smoking ban has had on UK bingo halls and how much it has been affected by the economic downturn. It also looks at the extent to which [...]
Read more...
A Mecca Bingo cleaner chased off a robber who held a woman at knifepoint as he tried to rob a Norwich bingo hall. The incident happened at 8.15am on Saturday 3 July at the Mecca Bingo hall in All Saints Green, Norwich. A balaclaved man broke into the back of the bingo hall, grabbed a [...]
Read more...
Join Mecca Bingo in Two Little Ducks for a Grand Night In from 9pm on Wednesday 1st July. To celebrate the start of July Mecca Bingo are running 5 x £1000 jackpot games in just two hours and as a special treat they will be running up to £50 chat games at random points in the two hours!
Read more...
Bingo News can exclusively reveal that a lucky Mecca Bingo player last night hit the Clover Rollover progressive jackpot and walked away with over £1.2 million. The Clover Rollover slot game’s progressive jackpot has been rising for months and was up to £1,201,233.77 when the lucky Mecca Bingo player hit it. The player hit five [...]
Read more...
The new managing director of Mecca Bingo is Mark Jones. His appointment was announced to the Stock market this morning. Jones, 48, has held a number of senior management posts in the leisure industry, including chief executive of Pizza Hut UK (while at Whitbread PLC), chief executive of Yates Group plc and most recently as [...]
Read more...
Tax accountants Deloitte have hailed the decision of the High Court that Mecca Bingo’s parent company, Rank Group, should receive a massive £59.1 million VAT refund. Tony McClenaghan, senior indirect tax partner at Deloitte, who advised Rank, said: “This is a landmark decision endorsing one of the most important principles of Community law, fiscal neutrality. [...]
Read more...
The High Court today upheld a ruling that Mecca Bingo’s parent company, Rank Group, is entitled to a £59.1 million VAT refund. The High Court ruled that Mecca Bingo overpaid VAT on interval bingo and gaming machines and that last year’s rulings by the VAT & Duties Tribunal were correct. The Tribunal had said that [...]
Read more...
Fancy winning a share of a massive £10,000 every Friday this June? To be in with a great chance of taking home some serious money, simply spend £10 a day on bingo tickets from Monday to Thursday. You will then qualify for our private room that opens every Friday where there is £10,000 up for grabs.
Read more...
The managing director of Mecca Bingo is being replaced as the company looks for a new face to take the bingo business forward. Simon Wykes, who was responsible for Rank Group’s 103 UK bingo clubs, has left with immediate effect; Rank’s chief executive Ian Burke has taken over operational management of the business until a [...]
Read more...
There are 5 weekends in May, and what better way to enjoy your weekend than bargain price bingo? Starting on the 2nd and 3rd of May in the bingo room Dancing Queen, Mecca Bingo will run 5p bingo every other game from 10am-10pm all weekend!
Read more...
Fancy winning a holiday, TV/DVD and Laptop theatre system or even a car? Join up at Mecca Bingo in May where they have some monster prizes to give away all month! Round 1 Join up in bingo room Key to the Door from Friday to Tuesday this week where Mecca Bingo are running 5 x [...]
Read more...
Half Price Tickets all day! Join Mecca Bingo on Wednesday 29th for a whole day of Half Price Same Prize Money. This popular club promotion is as simple as it sounds: All bingo tickets will be half price, but the prize money will remain the same. Join them in bingo rooms Dancing Queen, Key To [...]
Read more...
Mecca Bingo’s parent company Rank Group put out an emergency trading statement following yesterday’s Budget announcements about the change in the tax regime for bingo operators. They said revenues for Mecca Bingo had stayed exactly the same on a like-for-like basis for the first 16 weeks of 2009 to 19 April. The company said: “In [...]
Read more...
The bingo industry’s campaign to abolish VAT on bingo ticket sales was succesful yesterday – only for Chancellor Alistair Darling to increase taxes on bingo and gaming machines. VAT on bingo will be abolished but Gross Profits Tax (GPT) will increase from 15% to 22% and machine duty will rise 9% from £2,030 to £2,215 [...]
Read more...
The Foreign Secretary has been hailed as a “fantastic bingo caller” following his debut a a South Shields bingo hall. The praise will be a welcome change for him at a time when his party fights for its political future. David Miliband visited the Mecca Bingo Club in South Shields with Ian Burke, the chief [...]
Read more...
The government’s Pension Service is sending employees off to bingo halls during working hours – to advise pensioners on whether they are getting their maximum benefits. Officials from the Pension Service will be visiting Mecca and Gala bingo halls in coming months to check whether players are claiming their maximum entitlement for their pension. An [...]
Read more...
Mecca Bingo are spending £5.5 million on opening a new bingo hall in Beeston, Nottinghamshire. The Mecca Bingo hall in Queens Road, Beeston will have live entertainment, restaurants and will host community groups such as Weight Watchers during the day. The bingo hall opens on May 14 and more than 3,500 have registered as members [...]
Read more...
This April sees the very first Online Championships hosted by Mecca to celebrate the launch of their brand new site! Mecca Bingo are offering hundreds of chances for you to win over £30,000 plus fantastic free bingo!
Read more...
A fitness fanatic bingo boss from Maidenhead took on the world's largest timed cycling event this month to help raise money for causes that are close to his heart.
Read more...
Rhiannon is like any other teenager and is a sociable thirteen year old who loves going to the cinema, shopping and listening to music. She lives at home with her mum, dad and five year old brother and attends the local comprehensive school.
Read more...
A second director of Mecca Bingo has bought shares in the company. Finance director Paddy Gallagher bought 160,000 shares of Mecca Bingo’s parent company, Rank Group, at an average price of 60.04 pence. Last week Rank chief executive Ian Burke bought 85,000 shares at 59.75 pence. Director purchases of shares in a company are normally [...]
Read more...
The chief executive of Mecca Bingo has doubled his stake in the business by buying almost £50,000 of shares. Ian Burke bought 85,000 shares at 59.75p and now has around 160,500 shares in Rank Group, which owns Mecca bingo halls and Grosvenor Casinos. Rank Group recently reported results for 2008 and Mr Burke said that [...]
Read more...
Mecca Bingo has committed to staying with its software provider Virtue Fusion. While this may not seem like big news to those outside the online bingo industry, the development is a major decision which is likely to have serious ramifications for other operators. Bingo News has learned that Mecca Bingo planned to dump Virtue Fusion [...]
Read more...
Mecca Bingo’s former bingo hall in Vanston Place, Fulham, London is set to be turned into 150 student flats and three shops, if planning permission is granted. Fulham Council have been asked to allow the Victorian building to be conveted into student housing after Mecca Bingo moved out of the premises. The bingo hall was [...]
Read more...
The old Mecca Bingo Hall in Park Road, Toxteth is to be knocked down and turned into Liverpool’s largest supermarket. The £30 million development of a Tesco superstore will start in September 2009, according to the company. It will create up to 500 jobs of which half will go to local residents. It is the [...]
Read more...
Mecca Bingo’s profits fell 25.5% in 2008 and revenues dropped 10.8% on a year-on-year basis. The final results were flattered by a successful VAT claim which when included in the results reduced the year end performance to a 4.1% drop in profits and a 5.4% decline in revenue. But without the benefit of the one-off [...]
Read more...
Ukash have announced that they now have 44 sites that take UKash payments which means that online bingo players can deposit cash straight into their online bingo accounts. UKash take cash payments at over 275,000 outlets worldwide and players can then state where they would like their money to be uploaded to fund their online [...]
Read more...
Join Mecca Bingo for a Friday full of fun on the 27th with their Grand Night In! Play in Key To The Door, Two Little Ducks, Legs Eleven or Dancing Queen from just before 9pm and Mecca Bingo guarantee £25,000 will be won in just over 3 hours!!
Read more...
The law allowing bingo halls to increase the number of B3 jackpot gaming machines from four to eight was only changed on 4 February but already bingo halls are seeing the positive effects of the change. Mecca Bingo and Gala Bingo management have ordered bingo halls to increase the number of B3 machines as rapidly [...]
Read more...
Online bingo site Bingo Port today said that its quarterly report of UK bingo sites showed that there was only a 1% increase in player numbers in the last three months of 2008. It contrasts with Bingo Port’s figures for July to September 2008, when player numbers showed a 10% increase in the number of [...]
Read more...
Win £500 with the unluckiest number in bingo! Make Friday the 13th your lucky day with this special bingo promotion at Mecca Bingo Play 90 ball bingo on Friday the 13th at Mecca Bingo and any player who wins a full house on the number 13 will win £500!! All you need to do is win the house with 13 as your final number and they will make sure this is the luckiest Friday 13th EVER!!
Read more...
Bingo News has been checking through our search statistics to see the most popular search terms and we found a few surprises among them. Top surprise was how bad bingo players are at spelling! I guess we weren’t that surprised but here’s the top 5 spelling errors: 1. Garla Bingo 2. Meca Bingo 3. Foksy [...]
Read more...
A new bingo hall is set to open in Beeston, Nottinghamshire, bucking the national trend for closing bingo clubs. Mecca Bingo will open in Queen’s Road, Beeston in May, subject to receiving the necessary licences. The bingo operator expects to employ up to 65 people at the new bingo hall and is currently recruiting. Jay [...]
Read more...
This Valentines weekend Mecca Bingo are feeling the love. That's why they are offering you a chance to have your money back! Spend £10 on bingo tickets across Saturday and Sunday and get £10 of bingo funds back!! The best bit is, the moment you finish spending your £10 you'll get your money back straight away!
Read more...
Look and feel like a star with Mecca Bingo's amazing competition! Fancy a makeover with the best in the business?? Mecca Bingo have an exclusive offer for this week (23rd - 30th) just for you!
Read more...
The trial of a man who is accused of telling Mecca Bingo staff there was a bomb in their bingo hall was ended after the judge decided inadmissible evidence had been heard by the jury. John Thompson, 42, will face a new trial on May 18. Mr Thompson faces one charge of communicating false information [...]
Read more...
Mecca Bingo is the new sponsor of Wigan Warriors, according to press reports. The deal is to promote their online bingo offering and player shirts will feature the domain name meccabingo.com on the front and back. Mecca Bingo has agreed a 12 month deal and has an option to extend the deal for a further [...]
Read more...
A bingo caller who has worked at the same bingo hall for 34 years has ended her career. Rose Walford, 59, has been working at the Mecca bingo hall in Bridgwater, Somerset since she was 25. Staff at the Mecca Bingo hall near Penel Orlieu saw her off with flowers and a huge basket of [...]
Read more...
Mecca Bingo is launching a search to find the Bingo Buddy of the Year. Bingo players are asked to nominate friends who they have met through bingo and have made a special difference to their lives. A spokeswoman for Mecca Bingo said: “So many of our members tell us that they have made great friends [...]
Read more...
A woman described herself as ‘gutted’ after she won £5,000 playing bingo – because she thought she had won £250,000. Louise Payton was playing at the Bilston Mecca Bingo club when she hit what she thought was the regional jackpot. She only learned the following day it was a national jackpot and had been shared [...]
Read more...
The votes for Which Bingo’s Site of the Year award have been announced and the winner is Jackpot Joy. In a very close vote they just edged out Platinum Play Bingo and Crown Bingo. In the new site of the year award Bingo Playground took top spot, followed by Tombola Bingo and Wink Bingo. The [...]
Read more...
Rank Group, the parent company of bingo hall operator Mecca Bingo, is among The Times newspaper’s top 10 share tips for 2009. The Tempus share tipping column picks Rank out as a potential market outperformer over the course of 2009.Under the headline “Investors could be on a winner as Rank’s losing streak fades” the column’s [...]
Read more...
Trading at Mecca Bingo halls has stablised in the last 15 weeks with a 5% decrease in admissions offset by a 5% increase in expenditure by those at Rank’s bingo halls. But a trading statement issued by Rank Group this morning shows the full effect of the smoking ban and change in laws on jackpot [...]
Read more...
Rank Group, the parent company of Mecca Bingo, has received a £59.1 million VAT refund to cover overpayments on interval bingo. Between January 2003 and June 2008 HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) ruled that sales of interval bingo tickets should attract VATl interval bingo is played by individual players at their seats between the main [...]
Read more...
A four foot high man has been signed up to the mascot of a new online bingo information site. Jason Owens, 25, will be the face of Free Bingo Hunter. The company behind the website claims that Jason “is the inspiration behind a new website, which will help UK bingo players find the best free [...]
Read more...
About Virtue Fusion Virtue Fusion claim to be the largest dedicated online bingo software company in the world. They have a stellar list of the world’s top gambling companies using their bingo software. Virtue Fusion holds an Alderney gaming licence and is in the process of applying for a Maltese licence. Virtue Fusion is run [...]
Read more...
The online division of Rank, which runs MeccaBingo.com, has a new boss. Mark Jones was appointed chief executive of Blue Square, which runs all the online business of Rank, parent company of the Mecca Bingo Halls business. He starts with immediate effect and will join the board of Rank Group. Jones has previously worked as [...]
Read more...
If you cannot wait to play free games at Mecca Bingo on Christmas Day, they are running promotions every day until the 12th December! Check out what Mecca Bingo are offering in their 12 days of Christmas: December 1st: Mecca Christmas Quiz- The quiz will be on the site until Friday 5th. Every customer who [...]
Read more...
A Mecca Bingo player has won £75,587.73 by getting a full house in 30 calls, hitting the Mega Ball Jackpot. The player ‘beverleyt’ won playing online bingo on Mecca Bingo on 19 October but the Mecca press office has only just got round to telling everyone about their big winner. To celebrate the big win [...]
Read more...
Rank Group, who own the Mecca Bingo Halls chain, has just received a chunky tax refund – of £59.1 million. The company, which has been struggling following the smoking ban and falling attendances, has finally got something to cheer about after the courts agreed that VAT had been wrongly charged on ‘interval bingo’. VAT was [...]
Read more...
