Top Ten Bingo Struggling after Legal Dispute

Top Ten Bingo, the UK’s third-biggest bingo operator after Rank and Gala, has blamed the taxman for forcing it into another loss and prompting the closure of 16 clubs.

The chairman of Top Ten Bingo said that Revenue & Customs owed it £20 million and this had left the company struggling and that there would be further closures and more job losses.

This is Top Ten Bingo’s third consecutive annual loss with a total £30 million debt.

There has been a long-running legal dispute between the Gaming Industry and the Inland Revenue over millions of pounds in VAT and even though Top Ten bingo has received £3.5 million in VAT refunds, it is still owed around £20 million.

Top Ten’s auditors, KPMG, warned last week that the uncertainty over the outcome of the dispute was casting ‘significant doubts’ over Top Ten’s ability to stay in business.

Top Ten has just 24 bingo clubs left under the Apollo, Walkers and Top Ten brands.

Accounts filed for the year ending March 28, 2010 show that turnover fell by almost a fifth to £20.7 million recording a loss of £8.2 million compared to a loss of £5.9 million the previous year.