Rank group plc operates gaming-based entertainment brands. The Company operates gaming services in Great Britain, Spain, and India. Its segments include Digital, Grosvenor Venues, Mecca Venues and International Venues.
The Company is engaged in the operation of bingo clubs and casinos in the United Kingdom and Europe. It also offers online gaming and bookmaking services.
Joseph Arthur Rank was born in Yorkshire, England, to a family that owned a flour milling business. He grew up to become one of the most influential men in Britain’s film industry. He founded a number of companies including Pinewood Studios and Odeon Cinemas.
His success was aided by the government’s efforts to regulate the cinema industry. During the 1930s and ’40s, Rank and his associates built up a large vertically integrated film combine with control of all three key components: production, distribution, and exhibition.
With a dominant share in the British film industry, Rank began to look for allied industries in which to use his financial muscle. In the early 1960s, he turned to Rank Xerox.
Xerox’s sales increased dramatically, and by the end of the 1970s RX brought in 93 percent of the total profit of Rank’s other divisions. Nevertheless, Davis, who led Rank from 1962 to 1977, was somewhat embarrassed by the reduction of his once-mighty empire to the role of coupon-clipper, and began to scout for other areas in which to invest.
By 1990, Rank had established a strong position in leisure and recreation. It had acquired the Mecca Leisure Group, which owned a portfolio of hotels, theme parks, 85 bingo parlors, and 11 Hard Rock Cafes.