The history of Mecca Bingo

Mecca Bingo is a major online gambling operator from the United Kingdom, which provides a nice variety of bingo games to local and international players. The company has the headquarters in the UK and it has nearly 90 bingo clubs scattered nationwide. In addition to the bingo parlors located in various cities in the United Kingdom, they also run casinos in Spain and Belgium. The company was founded back in 1961 and it is owned by Rank Group, while being the largest bingo game operator in the country.

58 years of excellence in bingo

Mecca Bingo has recently made a name for itself in the online arena, but it has nearly 60 years of experience in providing bingo games. Founded in 1961, the company took advantage of the growing popularity of bingo in the United Kingdom. The game was initially played  in dance halls and later on in specialized bingo parlors, with Eric Morley being one of its strongest promoters in the UK. As a general manager of dancing at Mecca he made it possible to play bingo at its venues all over the country.

Mecca Leisure Group continued to grow well after Morley left the company in 1978, when his tenure as director and it. An important milestone for the company was set in 1990, when the Rank Organisation made the offer of £512m to acquire the company. Over the next 17 years, the company has increased its profitability nationwide, with the first serious shock coming in 2007. The decision to prohibit smoking in the UK led to the closure of nine Mecca Bingo clubs nationwide, but the company has recovered.

Mecca Bingo awards and accolades

The decision to embrace online gambling proved to be simply brilliant for Mecca Bingo just who set important milestones since 2015. Their successful marketing campaigns on websites like topsportsbetting.com led to a sharp increase in the number of digital sales and the company’s revenue jumped to £224.4 million. The operating profit has also increased since 2015 and the company now employs in excess of 10,000 people all over the UK. While it remains an important player in the land-based bingo industry, Mecca Bingo is also a leading supplier of bingo games for online players.

Mecca Bingo is licensed by the Alderney Gambling Control Commission and the UK Gambling Commission. These are two of the most respected regulatory and licensing authorities, holding bingo rooms to the highest security standards. They invest massively in new technologies and over the last couple of years, they’ve equipped their clubs with tablet devices that players could use for gambling.

Mecca Bingo won the prestigious Bingo Operator of the Year award in 2014 and the International Gaming Awards. The company managed to claim the award again in 2015 and 2016, when they were award in the Socially Responsible Operator of the Year Land Based. The investments made in online gambling in general and mobile bingo in particular brought them the Best Native App and Innovation in Bingo Awards in 2016 at the EGR Innovation and Marketing Awards.