Nambling Notes | July 29, 2008

IGN BLOGS Mark Balestra, publisher of IGamingNews, is blogging live from Clarion's Next Generation in Gambling event. To view his first entry, "GIGSE Was Here," click here.

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PREVIEW Daniel Stewart & Co. said Rank Group's first-half results, due to be released Thursday, are likely to be dotted with terms like "consumer weakness," "continued effects of smoking ban," "negative legislation," "double bingo taxation," and "higher labor and utility costs" to explain away the poor results the brokerage expects.

"We do not expect the results to drive much confidence in the group," the brokerage said in a research note Tuesday. "Although comparatives should get easier from Q3 and Q4 2008 (>12 months since introductions of English smoking ban and Gambling Act in July and September 2007 respectively), we believe that the investment required to simply stem bingo revenue declines is relatively ineffective and failing to improve ROCE (rate on capital employed)."