Categories
· Smokefree Policies
· Casinos/Gambling
· Business (General)
· costs
non-USA, by Country
· UK
|
Jump to full article: Bloomberg News, 2008-05-07
Author: Louisa Nesbitt and Loveday Morris
Intro: Rank Group Plc, owner of the U.K.'s second-largest bingo-hall chain and Grosvenor Casinos, said a sales decline eased after managers took steps to counter a decline in customer numbers caused by a ban on indoor smoking.
Revenue fell 8 percent at outlets open at least a year in 2008's first 17 weeks, the Maidenhead, England-based company said today in a statement. That was less than the 10 percent slide in the first eight weeks. Cost-savings have strengthened the company's ``profit performance,'' it said.
Rank opened sheltered outdoor gaming areas and installed electronic gear that permits remote play at its bingo halls to counter a fall in sales after England barred indoor smoking in public places in July. The company is vulnerable to prohibitions on tobacco use because about half of bingo players smoke, twice the rate of the general populace, according to executives.
Jump to full article » |