Bingo Duty

Bingo Calling Names

A cut in bingo duty has saved Crown Bingo in North End from closing. The hall was planned to close on the 6th April with the loss of 25 jobs but now it is staying open after the announcment to cut bingo duty by half in this week’s budget.

Gary Bell, General Manager of Peter Arnett Leisure which operates the bingo halls, said, following the announcement, I met with the owners of the business, and although the duty saving is not enough on its own to save the club, it does mean that we are able to make substantial investment into the club which we believe will be enough to secure the club’s future.

We currently have somewhere in the region of 500 members regularly attending Crown Bingo Portsmouth, and it’s fantastic to be able to tell them that their club has been saved.

On a personal note I would like to thank the team at the Bingo Association for all of their hard work on the Boost Bingo campaign, as without that campaign I don’t believe the treasury would have reduced Bingo Duty and our club would have been lost.

Also a huge thank you to all of our staff and customers for their continued support throughout some very difficult times.

Manager of the North End Hall, Margaret West, who has worked for Crown Bingo for thirty years, said, "It’s wonderful news. We had a meeting this morning and we were informed that we weren’t closing. We were absolutely over the moon. It means we’re not going to lose our jobs so it’s great news for us and also for the public as their local bingo hall is not going to close down.