The owner of Grosvenor Casinos and Mecca Bingo has warned that Britain's bingo halls face an existential threat if Andy Burnham proceeds with a proposed £460m increase in gambling taxes.

Rank Group, the FTSE 250 leisure company, cautioned the government against further tax hikes on the gambling sector, noting that it paid more than £225m in taxes last year alone. The warning comes as Britain's land-based gambling operators navigate an already difficult landscape, with the number of bingo halls nationwide having declined sharply over recent decades — a trend accelerated by the 2007 indoor smoking ban and intensifying competition from online gambling.

Richard Harris, chief executive of Rank Group, said on Thursday: "Tax proposals from anti-gambling campaigners continue to cast clouds over a regulated industry that is proud to support jobs across the country [and] deliver great hospitality experiences to millions of customers."

Ahead of Burnham's appointment as Prime Minister, a left-wing think tank estimated that he could raise £460m by increasing the tax on slot and fruit machines from 20 per cent to 40 per cent.

Any rise in Machine Games Duty (MGD) — the levy on takings from gaming machines introduced in 2013 — "will further impact venue viability across both Grosvenor and Mecca and will lead to a reduction in tax receipts within 12 months," Rank Group said.

Although the government abolished a tax on physical bingo halls earlier this year, the widespread use of gambling machines at Mecca Bingo venues means the company remains vulnerable to such an increase.

Harris added that higher gambling taxes would result in "much-loved bingo halls and casinos will be forced to close, impacting customers in local communities."

The group said it is focusing on growing revenue through digital machines and electronic gaming at both its Grosvenor Casino and Mecca Bingo locations.

Rank Trims Bingo Hall Estate

Rank Group reported a five per cent increase in gaming revenue to £835m for the year to June, while pre-tax profit declined by 15 per cent to £39m.

The company attributed the drop in statutory profit partly to a £7.5m impairment charge related to its gaming machines.

Grosvenor Casinos, which operates approximately 50 venues across the UK, generated an average of £7.6m in gaming revenue per week — a five per cent increase year-on-year.

The group installed 850 new machines across 37 of its casinos in an effort to boost turnover, but noted that the Middle East conflict had adversely affected its table gaming performance.

Rank has been steadily reducing its portfolio of Mecca bingo halls, citing an "oversupply" of venues across the UK. The contraction mirrors a broader trend across the British bingo sector, which has lost hundreds of venues over the past two decades. The company said this has left it with "a much healthier estate of core clubs and flagship venues, well-placed to compete more effectively in their marketplaces."

Gaming machine revenue at Mecca rose by six per cent, representing 42 per cent of the business's total gaming turnover for the year.

Separately, Entain — the FTSE 100 owner of Ladbrokes — on Thursday criticised the government's "significant and disappointing" increase in taxes on remote gambling, which it said had weighed on its underlying earnings.