One of the UK’s biggest casino brands has suffered a major payment fraud incident in Spain costing millions.
According to reports, criminals have stolen €7.1m ($8.3m) from the Rank Group’s Spanish operations. News emerged last week that Spanish police are investigating the incident alongside Rank, which operates nine venues in the Mediterranean country under its Enracha brand and two iGaming sites under its Yo brand.
exceptional nature of this incident”
Rank is also reportedly running its own in-house investigation after being granted independent legal counsel to examine the incident that led to the fraud. A statement by the Berkshire-based firm said: “Given the exceptional nature of this incident, Rank Group expects to treat the financial impact as a separately disclosed item in relation to its 2025/26 performance.”
Industry media reported that despite taking the massive hit, Rank “assured that the business is in a strong cash position.” While this might be the corporate line, the reality is Rank is facing a major challenge in the UK over November’s gambling tax increase. Industry analysts anticipate this will see the bigger brands like FanDuel’s parent Flutter devour the smaller ones.
Rank, which owns the brand Mecca Bingo, initially saw its shares spike after the new budget abolished the 10% tax on bingo takings. The tax hike for online casino, however, from 21% to 40%, led online-heavy Rank to issue an operating profit hit of £40m ($52.8m), which saw its shares plummet 9%.
The Spanish affair, of which details of the mode of attack are yet to be disclosed, adds further pressure on Rank heading into an uncertain 2026.
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