Rank completes sale of Casino Blankenberge to Kindred Group

Rank agreed the sale of Casino Blankenberge with the Unibet operator paying £25m in cash.

Belgium.- UK gaming operator The Rank Group has completed the sale of Casino Blankenberge to Kindred Group.

Kindred paid £25m in cash to acquire 100 per cent of the shares in Blankenberge Casino-Kursaal (Blancas), the Rank subsidiary that operates the Belgian land-based casino and its associated digital licence.

Rank said it would use the proceeds from the sale to boost liquidity amid the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on Rank’s UK business and to fund initiatives within its Transformation 2.0 programme.

Kindred, which runs several igaming brands including Unibet, had begun working with Blancas in 2012 in order to access Belgium’s online casino market, since Belgian law requires online gaming operators to partner with a land-based casino.

Rank bought Casino Blankenberge, one of Belgium’s nine land-based casinos, back in 1998.

It brought its other Belgian operations to an end in 2017, when it left its venture in Middelkerke.

However, in 2018, it renewed the casino’s concession with the city of Blankenberge for another 15 years starting from January of this year.