Spring hasn’t sprung for UK’s Rank Group

Profits of UK gambling operator Rank Group have taken a hit in the first three months of 2018 from the dwindling number of gamblers visiting its casino and bingo halls.

On Thursday, the UK-listed company released its Q1 report, which saw its like-for-like revenue drop by 2%. Rank’s Grosvenor casinos and Mecca bingo venues were also down 9% and 2% respectively, largely due “weaker than expected visits” made worse by two periods of cold weather. For Grosvenor chain of 54 casinos across Britain and two more in Belgium, the situation was compounded by the run of good luck among its high-rollers.

Rank’s UK digital unit remains to be the belle of the ball, with revenues rising 17% in the first 13 weeks of the year. That ray of sunshine, however, hasn’t stopped the group’s board from lowering its full-year operating profit from £84.5 million to between £76 million ($107 million) and £78 million for the year ending June 30.

“The Board is cautious about the UK consumer outlook and as a result expects the Group’s UK venues to continue to be impacted for the remainder of the 2017-18 financial year and into 2018-19,” Rank Group said in a statement.