Rank exec warns of collapse
19 Nov 2007
"Last month Rank made a profits warning as customers stayed away because of the smoking ban. This week, as the market braces itself for more bad news from Aim-listed Top Ten Bingo, the Bingo Association will lock horns with Chancellor Alistair Darling over a tax regime it feels hampers its chance of survival.
"Bingo operators pay 15% gaming duty and 17.5% VAT - the only form of gambling to be double taxed. The industry wants the Government to scrap the VAT.
"After Rank's share price collapse, which nose-dived from 163p to below 89½p, Darling went to a bingo hall in his Edinburgh South constituency and seemed to offer some respite for the industry..."