Full house for Mecca Bingo

MECCA Bingo owner Rank today said efforts to cope with the impact of smoking bans and new gambling laws had boosted recent trading.

The firm – which has improved its food and drink offering and introduced outside areas to accommodate smokers – has also installed a larger number of lucrative gaming machines in its bingo clubs.

In the six weeks since September 1 – the comparable period since new legislation was introduced – Rank's like-for-like revenues were up five per cent.

But overall like-for-like revenues in the 41 weeks to October 12 were down eight per cent.

Rank praised the "much stronger" recent performance but warned of the headwinds from a slowing economy.