Gambling boss John O’Reilly has been dealt a tough hand at Rank

John O’Reilly has been dealt a tough hand since becoming CEO of Grosvenor Casino and Mecca Bingo owner Rank Group in 2018.

In addition to having to shut down for months as the pandemic hit, the gambling industry has braced for widespread reforms that have been delayed for more than two years.

This is partly due to the fact that political and public opinion is increasingly turning against the industry following a series of campaigns that have exposed the misery of gambling addiction.

O’Reilly, 63, is well aware that he works in an industry that many people consider immoral.

‘I often get asked if I’m comfortable with what I do,’ he says. And I say look, gambling has always existed and will always exist.

“Society has the choice to regulate and tax it, and put it in the hands of responsible operators. Or you put it in the hands of the mafia. I think we made the right choice in this country.’

The gambling world is changing rapidly, but O’Reilly insists that bingo halls – a feature of the British urban landscape for decades – are still an ‘important part of local communities’.

Every week about 100,000 people walk through the doors of Mecca bingo halls – and about 4,000 of them are newcomers, who have never played the game before.

The figures show that about half of those newcomers are under the age of 34 – making them part of the ‘millennial’ generation and breaking the stereotype that bingo is reserved for older women.

O’Reilly says the most serious players who want a quiet game come on Mondays and Tuesdays. Later in the week it gets rawer. “On Fridays and Saturdays, we have bingo hosted by drag queens and karaoke nights when the prize is an inflated crocodile,” he says.

Even the great UK bingo night is not immune to the demands of political correctness.

Some well-known traditional terms such as “legs 11” and “two fat ladies 88” have “been out of use for a while” because they are considered obsolete, he says.

Bingo was hit hard by the pandemic and has also suffered from the cost of living crisis. Clubs are hit by increased running costs as grandmas and other devotees feel the pressure and cut back on outings.

“When I go to a bingo hall, the first question people ask me is whether I’m going to close it,” he says.

Of the 72 rooms that Rank had around this time last year, 39 were loss-making and 15 had to close their doors.

Life is getting harder for companies like Rank everywhere. The government’s white paper on gambling, published in April, aims to protect customers from addiction and heavy losses amid an explosion of online betting, without spoiling the fun of the majority who like to flutter.

Sitting in the Rialto Casino just off Piccadilly Circus on an unusually hot London evening, O’Reilly says he is more optimistic than ever about the future of his business.

He says Rank – which generates 70 percent of its sales from face-to-face locations, including its bingo halls – could benefit from the regulatory shake-up.

One of the changes involves removing the limit on the number of slot machines that can be placed in casinos.

As current rules go, venues like Rialto are only allowed to have 20 machines in the entire venue – due to a 1960s regulation that aimed to limit the number of people playing at one time.

Under the changes there will be a maximum of 80 machines per site – with the numbers based on a sliding scale based on size and demand – but eventually more bums will be in seats.

“The industry has not kept up with changing consumer needs,” says O’Reilly.

Industry regulator, the Gambling Commission, has also flexed its muscles in recent months.

Earlier this year it imposed the harshest penalty ever on high street bookmaker William Hill: a £19 million fine for allowing gamblers to lose too much money. A customer spent £23,000 in just 20 minutes.

Campaigners have complained that the fines fail to address the underlying issues and suggest that removing licenses is the only way to really teach companies a lesson.

O’Reilly says companies have made “mistakes,” but he points to the benefits to Rank of owning physical properties.

He claims that having physical locations makes it easier for operators to detect addictive gambling. Rank bans about 600 people every month for various reasons, including wanting to gamble with too much money too quickly.

‘The difference with online gambling is that you have it [your smartphone] in your pocket and can do it anytime,” he says.

‘And the only advantage for us is that we have the customer in front of us. So we can see them. We can see their behavior.’

O’Reilly’s gambling image is primarily about having fun, which he attributes to his Irish Catholic upbringing, where he “grew up on the racecourse” with an uncle who trained horses and a father who loved to bet – especially at cards. “Gambling is in my blood,” he says.

This deep-seated connection made his move from teaching business at North Staffordshire Polytechnic to the gambling industry a no-brainer.

He spent 19 years at Ladbrokes – starting in the 1990s – expanding his online gambling business before joining Gala Coral Group in 2011 and Rank in 2018. Rank was founded in 1937 by film producer Joseph Arthur Rank and was previously a conglomerate of film companies including Pinewood Studios and Odeon, as well as leisure brands such as Butlins and Haven Holidays.

It eventually sold off much of its sprawling empire and focused on gambling – though it continues to use the traditional Gongman logo seen at the beginning of many films, including the Carry On series.

Today, Rank is the only casino operator listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Despite O’Reilly’s optimistic outlook, investors don’t seem entirely convinced.

Its shares are still down 70 per cent from 2020 and, unlike many of its gambling peers, it failed to enjoy an uptick during Covid when there was an explosion in online betting.

However, the stock has surged since the release of the white paper, indicating there is some hope among shareholders that Rank will benefit.

As for O’Reilly, he just wants to get people back through the doors – and have fun doing it.