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The Rank Group plc (Rank) is a British gambling and leisure company, with operations in the United Kingdom, Belgium and Spain. Its numerous brands include Grosvenor Casinos, the UK's largest casino operator. Rank was associated with the cinema and motion picture industry until 2006, and continues to use the Gongman logo originally used by the Rank Organisation's film distribution subsidiary General Film Distributors. Rank’s principal market and headquarters are in the United Kingdom, where it operates Grosvenor Casinos (56 casinos), Mecca Bingo (96 bingo clubs) and Rank Interactive (online gaming and betting). Rank operates additional Grosvenor Casinos clubs in Belgium (two casinos), and Top Rank España in Spain (10 bingo clubs).〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Rank Group Plc )〕 Rank is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. ==History== The company was formed to acquire the business interests of the Rank Organisation, which itself was formed out of the business interests of its founder, J. Arthur Rank.〔(Rank Group: Chronology )〕 Until the start of the 21st century, the group still had a tremendous amount of leisure holdings; however, as the decade progressed they sold their interests in Pinewood Studios〔(Rank sells UK's flagship Pinewood studios )〕 and the Odeon cinema chain.〔(Rank sells Odeon Cinema Chain to Cinven for £280m )〕 It also divested itself of its engineering companies such as its share in Rank Xerox, selling Rank Leisure Machine Services to Gamestec plus all its Butlins, Warner and Haven Holidays holiday and recreation facilities, which were all sold to Bourne Leisure.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Rank set to sell Butlins resorts )〕 They then sold off their nightclub division, Rank Entertainment, as well as their share of interest in Universal Studios Florida, and disposed of their vast Rank film library to Carlton Communications with whom they had recently also sold their Rank Advertising Film Division. In December 2005, as Rank sold Deluxe Film (formerly Rank Film Laboratories) for £400 million, it effectively ended their sixty-year association with the film and cinema business.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The Independent - 404 )〕 This meant Rank Leisure had become focused on their gaming operations, with their remaining business interests concentrating on Grosvenor and G Casinos, Top Rank and Mecca Bingo, and online gaming through Rank Interactive after the company acquired the Blue Square gaming business in 2003.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=UK Rank Buys Blue Square )〕 Finally leaving all non-gaming leisure behind, in December 2006, Rank sold the Hard Rock business, excluding the London casino venue which was rebranded to G Casinos, to the Seminole Tribe of Florida for US$965 million.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=BBC NEWS - Business - Seminole tribe in Hard Rock deal )〕 In May 2012, Rank agreed to purchase 23 casinos from Gala Coral for £205 million.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Mecca Bingo owner Rank buys Gala casinos for £205m )〕 After the Competition Commission ruled that the deal would only go ahead if four venues were excluded, in March 2013 Rank agreed to purchase 19 casinos from Gala Coral for £179 million, making Rank the UK's largest casino operator.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Rank agrees revised deal for Gala casinos )〕 In April 2013, the group sold its Blue Square interactive gaming business, first launched in 1999, to Betfair. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Rank Group」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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