The owner of the UK’s biggest bingo hall operator is exploring a sale of the company, even as gambling bosses warn a huge tax raid could threaten the industry. 

Asset manager ICG has appointed bankers to advise on discussions with potential buyers for Buzz Bingo, it is understood. 

The Nottingham-based chain is looking for a new owner which could provide fresh investment to capitalise on surging interest in bingo among young Brits. 

Specialist sports industry finance advisor Oakvale Capital has been drafted in to oversee the possible sale of Buzz Bingo, which operates more than 75 bingo halls across the country.

The bingo group says online trends have kicked off a resurgence in the game’s popularity, particularly among younger players who are seeking affordable alternatives to a night out.

Of the 190,000 new retail customers the company picked up last year, half were aged under 35. 

Last year, Buzz Bingo saw admissions and revenue grow for the first time since the indoor smoking ban came into force 2007. 

The group grew its revenue by 11 per cent to £241m in the 2025 financial year, helped by double-digit growth at its bingo halls and through its online games.

Buzz Bingo wants to push more money into modernising its clubs and improving the customer experience, it is understood. 

The group’s refurbished halls beat the company’s overall admissions growth by 20 per cent and attracted 49 per cent more new customers last year.

‘Numbers could be up for bingo sector’

Buzz Bingo’s hunt for a buyer, first reported by Sky News, comes as the gambling industry warns the government that a Budget tax raid would shut betting shops and bingo halls across the country. 

Chancellor John Healey has been urged to hike machine games duty (MGD) – which is charged on slot machines – from 20 to 40 per cent to raise as much as £458m.

Last month, Buzz Bingo chief executive Dominic Mansour warned that this tax hike would have a knock-on effect on the UK’s beloved bingo halls.

He said: “Unless bingo clubs are protected from such reform, the viability of bingo in the UK will be at risk. The numbers for Britain’s bingo could truly be up.”

Last month, the boss of Ladbrokes owner Entain blamed plans to cut around 400 jobs on the “backdrop of rising costs and increasing pressure” facing the gambling industry.

Stella David, chief executive of the FTSE 250 firm, said: “A tax increase of the proposed scale would also risk pushing gambling activity away from the regulated high street rather than simply reducing it.

“The better outcome for communities and the public finances is to keep gambling within the regulated sector and, wherever possible, bring activity currently taking place illegally back into it.”

Buzz Bingo was bought by London-based ICG for an undisclosed sum in March 2021.

ICG and Buzz Bingo declined to comment.