Full house no more as Mecca sales fall 7%

Published on Thursday 18 December 2008 20:38

MECCA Bingo owner Rank yesterday blamed the impact of the smoking ban south of the Border and new gambling laws for a 7 per cent fall in sales this year.

The group, which also owns Grosvenor Casinos, said admissions fell by 11 per cent in Mecca bingo halls in the 50 weeks to 14 December.

But the company offered hope that actions taken to boost business were paying.

Like-for-like sales were up 1 per cent in the 15 weeks since 1 September – the comparable period since new smoking legislation was introduced last year.

However, that sales momentum was a slowdown from a rise of 6 per cent reported between September and mid-October

Admissions also fell across Grosvenor Casinos – down 14 per cent in the year so far, although it partly mitigated this with a 10 per cent rise in spend per customer.