Buzz Bingo
Buzz Bingo is a chain of bingo clubs in Great Britain owned by Intermediate Capital Group. It has 82 locations.[1][2] Formerly operating as Gala Bingo clubs, they were re-branded as Buzz Bingo clubs in September 2018, whilst the Gala brand continues to run its own online bingo and casino offerings under the ownership of Entain plc.[3]
History[edit]
Buzz Bingo has undergone several changes in ownership and branding including through acquisitions. They were originally Coral branded, a division of Bass plc. In 1983, there were 22 clubs and 24 located in their Pontins holiday camps.[4]
The ownership acquisitions included a chain of 80 bingo clubs from Thorn EMI for £18.2 million in 1983,[4] followed by another 30 by purchasing Zetters Leisure for £23 million in 1988.[5] Granada plc's chain of 74 bingo clubs were added in 1991 for £147 million.[6][7] This merger with Granada led to the company rebranding as Gala Clubs later that year.[8] Gala was officially launched on 17 October 1991 when 17 clubs re-branded and launched a new image. There followed a series of further acquisitions under the Gala brand, including 17 clubs from Ritz in July 1998, 10 clubs from Jarglen in March 2000 and 27 Riva Bingo Clubs from First Leisure for £90 million in April 2000.
Towards the end of 2000, Gala then began a series of expansions outside of their bingo operations, with casinos from the Hilton Group in December 2000 and the Jamba Online business in 2001.[9] This was later followed by a series of private equity sales of the company starting in February 2003 to the private equity firms Candover and Cinven.[10] Permira bought a stake in the company in August 2005, which valued the business at £1.89 billion.[11] In October 2005, Gala acquired Coral Eurobet for £2.18 billion and changed its name to Gala Coral Group, creating the United Kingdom's third largest bookmaker and largest bingo operator.[12]
By 2015, Gala Coral was acquired by its rival Ladbrokes,[13] but the Gala Bingo clubs were not part of the merger, and were subsequently sold to Caledonia Investments for £241 million in December 2015.[14][15] This meant that the clubs used the Gala brand under licence from the Ladbrokes-Coral group and decided during 2018 to re-brand as Buzz Bingo.[16]
In 2020, Buzz Bingo became insolvent as a result of its clubs being closed during the COVID-19 lockdown.[17] It underwent a company voluntary arrangement, in which 26 of its 117 clubs were closed permanently, and Caledonia invested £22 million to retain ownership of the company.[17][18][19] As England entered a third COVID lockdown in 2021, the company continued to struggle and needed more financing.[19] Caledonia opted not to invest any further money, and instead sold Buzz Bingo for a "nominal amount" to Intermediate Capital Group, which invested £18 million into the company.[19]
Operations[edit]
Buzz Bingo operates 82 High Street clubs throughout Great Britain. It launched its online bingo offering, buzzbingo.com, powered by Playtech software, shortly after the rebrand from Gala to Buzz was completed in 2018.[3][20]
In 2022, in conjunction with Playtech, Buzz Bingo launched their "Single Wallet" offering, paving the way for an omni-channel business. The launch of this product created the possibility for customers to use their funds across both online and the retail estate.[21]
In 2023, Buzz Bingo launched a further online offering, buzzcasino.com, in an aim to further capture the Casino market as well as bingo, again powered by Playtech.[22]
References[edit]
- ^ "Club Finder". Buzz Bingo. Retrieved 5 April 2023.
- ^ "Buzz Bingo shuts down 9 venues due to poor recovery" (Press release). SBC News. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
- ^ a b "Gala Leisure to relaunch all clubs as Buzz Bingo with two-year £40 million investment plan". coinslot.co.uk. International Coin Slot. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
- ^ a b Batchelor, Charles (10 September 1983). "Bass buys Thorn EMI bingo". Financial Times. London – via NewsBank.
- ^ Harris, Clay (7 June 1988). "Bass pays 23 million pounds for bingo clubs". Financial Times. London – via NewsBank.
- ^ Churchill, David (11 May 1991). "Bass reshuffling its gambling interests". Financial Times. London – via NewsBank.
- ^ "Granada Tooting, London". Cinema Organ Society. Archived from the original on 9 June 2013. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
- ^ Ashworth, Jon (23 September 1991). "Bass seeks full house in Gala opening". The Times. London – via NewsBank.
- ^ "Gala will spend £3m to make Jamba pay-to-play". Brand Republic. 7 November 2001. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
- ^ "Bingo group bought in £1.25bn deal". BBC. 7 February 2003. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
- ^ "Permira Funds buy stake in Gala". Permira. 1 August 2005. Archived from the original on 13 August 2014. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
- ^ "Casino group Gala snaps up Coral". BBC. 7 October 2005. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
- ^ "Ladbrokes to merge with smaller rival Coral". BBC News. 24 July 2015. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
- ^ David Cook (27 October 2015). "Gala Bingo acquisition "strange", says consultant". Gambling Insider. Retrieved 27 December 2017.
- ^ "Caledonia Investments completes Gala Bingo acquisition". Morningstar. Alliance News. 21 December 2015. Archived from the original on 28 December 2017.
- ^ Zee, Carl (29 June 2018). "Gala Leisure Rebrands Iconic Gala Bingo Clubs as Buzz Bingo". Gambling.com. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
- ^ a b Sarah Butler (15 July 2020). "Buzz Bingo to close 26 halls across UK with loss of up to 573 jobs". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 5 April 2023.
- ^ Jon Robinson (25 January 2021). "Buzz Bingo "well placed" for future after restructure". Insider Media Limited. Retrieved 5 April 2023.
- ^ a b c "Caledonia Investments sells Buzz Bingo shares after Covid-19 setback". Gambling Insider. 18 March 2021. Retrieved 5 April 2023.
- ^ "Buzz Bingo and Playtech launch ground-breaking platform" (Press release). Playtech. 15 October 2018. Retrieved 5 April 2023.
- ^ "Playtech completes full rollout of single Wallet project with Buzz Bingo" (Press release). Playtech. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
- ^ "Buzz Bingo launches online casino offering" (Press release). iGaming News. Retrieved 2 June 2023.