Rank exec warns of collapse
19 Nov 2007
UNITED KINGDOM -- As reported by This is Money: "Bid rumours surrounding bingo operator Rank may have helped the company's share price last week, but chief executive Ian Burke is still warning that the industry is on the brink of collapse.
"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..."