Sold? MeccaBingo has yet another offer

Duke Street have previously worked with Brian Mattingley, one-time finance director at GalaBingo in relation to a play for Buckingham Bingo. Duke Street knows Mattingley well. The firm supported him when it financed the management buyout of Ritz Bingo in 1997 from the old Vardon leisure conglomerate.  The Ritz Bingo deal was done, at a time when many people felt that the lottery would kill off the game of bingo. RitzBingo was later sold to Mecca's great rival GalaBingo for a healthy profit.  It is rummored Duke Street have in the past made other approaches to various UK bingo businesses.  So they clearly have a desire to be back in the UK Bingo game.

MeccaBingo has already dinged out Harrah's earlier this year, the American casino company.

The Times claims the Mecca Bingo board is not keen to pursue a deal at this stage and the two sides are thought not to be holding talks. Both parties declined to comment on the report from The Times. Mecca has been the subject of market speculation in recent weeks following a downturn in trading at its bingo arm in the wake of the UK smoking ban. Genting picked up a 10% stake as we prievously reported, though this was more to block Harrah's move apparently while a rich property developer has also built a stake thought to be 10%.

Other parties that could be interested in bidding for Mecca Bingo include 888.com, Aspers.com, a joint venture between Damian Aspinall and the Australian tycoon James Packer, and Ladbrokes.com, the high street bookmaker.

Ian Burke Meecca's top man said the group was not planning to close any of its 100 bingo clubs despite the current tough banking situation for the Mecca Group which forced them to cancel a dividened payment of over £15M to shareholders.

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