The Daily Mail posted quite the story on Saturday on the internet version of the paper called Mail Online.  They did an interview with Ian Burke, chief executive of Rank Group – Mecca’s parent company.  This interview took place in the bright pink Mecca club in Beeston where customers are served cappuccinos, wine and food right at their tables during games.  The new design of the club also features bar areas where patrons can forego the traditionally quieter tables and talk without worry of angering fellow bingo players.

Burke says that they’ve “taken some market share from our competitors here, but we’re also growing the local market”.   Gala Coral boss Neil Goulden, on the other hand, scoffs at the new style bingo club that Mecca is introducing, calling it “middleclass people telling workingclass people how they should play bingo.”

The new club seems to be attracting a pretty good crowd, with weekly attendance almost as much as the three Gala clubs combined.  Things like rock and roll bingo and the after-dark-bin-glo bingo where people are encouraged to dress funky and mark each other up with fluorescent daubers, are apparently things that are going over big with the bingo fans in the area.

Burke said, “We want to be the leading, not the biggest.  Clearly this concept is quite different from anything else in the industy.  According to our focus group, customers are delighted with it.”

While the Mail referred to it as “bingo wars”, we fail to see the war going on.  Gala seems to be continuing on with the traditional concept as always and do not appear to be overly concerned with the new Rank style club.  Can there be a war when the other party doesn’t seem to be worried?