Rank Group CEO implores UK government to allow casinos to reopen
Casino and bingo operator currently burning through £10m per month with its gaming venues mothballed
The boss of Rank Group, John O’Reilly, has urged the government to rethink its decision not to allow casinos to reopen on 4 July when lockdown measures are further eased.
From the first Saturday of next month, businesses in England, including pubs, restaurants and cinemas, will be allowed to welcome customers for the first time in more than three months, albeit with strict social distancing protocols.
However, casinos, gyms, nightclubs, spas, bowling alleys and swimming pools are included on a government-drafted list of facilities that must remain closed for the time being.
In a blog post on the Betting and Gaming Council’s website, O’Reilly said excluding casinos from the tranche of businesses given the go-ahead to resume operations on 4 July “came as a blow” and that Rank was “struggling to understand the rationale”.
During lockdown, the London-listed operator has installed social distancing and safety measures for its Grosvenor Casinos in preparation for reopening.
This included kitting venues out with plastic screens between all gaming machines while the seating positions at bars and roulette and blackjack tables are also separated by plastic divides.
Grosvenor Casinos employs 4,600 staff, with the majority furloughed as part of the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme at a cost of £1.5m a week.
O’Reilly revealed that Rank Group is burning cash at a rate of £10m per month, even accounting for revenue from digital channels.
“For every day that our Grosvenor Casinos remain closed, the liquidity on our balance sheet is being drained,” O’Reilly wrote.
“Whilst we remain closed, our casinos are obviously not contributing to tax receipts which, pre-lockdown, were in the region of £1.5m per week.”
He added: “In short, we are asking the government to quickly review the decision to keep casinos closed.”
However, bingo halls are allowed to reopen in England on 4 July, which is welcome news for Rank’s Mecca Bingo business – the second-largest bingo operator in the UK.
O’Reilly said he was “delighted when the government gave us the thumbs-up to reopen our Mecca Bingo venues”.