While online bingo sites in the UK are going strong it seems the land based ancestors are in serious trouble as numbers coming through their doors continue to decline.
In recent years the mass expansion in the online sector as well as the smoking ban have helped to damage the traditional bingo hall culture dramatically and its hows no signs of letting up.
Today Bolton based Buckingham Bingo, the owners of 12 bingo clubs in the UK have reported a loss of £88.7m and have entered into fresh talks with banks to relieve the situation.
The company currently has a “going concern” status here in the UK which means the business has little to no threat of going into liquidation. Whereas the online bingo industry is growing rapidly, land-based bingo rooms have been struggling with rising taxes also affecting the limited profits.
Bingo rooms across the country are already beginning to close.
After a massive re-financing of the company the owners of Buckingham Bingo have lost control to Barclays Bank.
Buckingham Bingo had already attempted a merger with another struggling company Riva Bingo but talks were called off while their debt situation was straightened out.
Whilst there has been no official comment from Buckingham Bingo a spokesman from Barclays has said that they are currently happy with the running of the group and have no intentions of closing it done.
The majority of Buckingham bingo’s clubs are in the Lancashire area with five based in Manchester, three in Preston and two in Liverpool. They also have halls in Bradford, Corby and Peterlee.
A spokesman for the chain’s new parent company Full House Holdings said “The company has undergone a recent financial restructuring and continues to enjoy the ongoing support of both its equity and debt providers”.
He added that trading since Christmas had been encouraging and that the Bucky Bingo sites launched last year “continue to make a positive contribution to the business”. The spokesman also welcomed a recent decision to increase in the number of larger payout jackpot machines allowed into bingo clubs from February 4th and a decision to increase both stake sizes and payouts of category ‘C’ machines, which will be introduced later this year.
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