The owner of Mecca Bingo shrugged off a fall in the number of visitors to its halls today as a surge in online players helped it toast a 9% rise in profits.

Rank Group said visits to its 97 bingo clubs fell 1.7% in the year to June 30.

But the group’s online arm enjoyed a 25% rise in underlying profits, with the popularity of meccabingo.com helping drive a 24% increase in bingo and games revenues.

Rank also benefited from a robust performance at its Grosvenor casinos division after refurbishing outlets to its G Casino format attracted a younger crowd, with group-wide profits lifting to £61.5m over the year.