Chain: Merkur Bingo

Merkur Bingo is the trading identity most closely associated with Merkur Casino UK (formerly Praesepe), the British arm of the German-founded Gauselmann Group, one of the largest gaming companies in Europe. The Merkur Bingo name has, somewhat confusingly, been used twice by the group for two entirely separate sets of clubs: first for a short-lived English estate inherited through acquisition, and more recently for its current Northern Ireland business, built on the long-established Oasis brand.

The English clubs (2021 to 2025)

Merkur’s first venture into UK bingo came in 2021, when Praesepe acquired Marwyn Gaming Limited, the parent company of Beacon Bingo, in a deal worth around £76 million. By this point Beacon’s estate had already been reduced by earlier closures, leaving just three surviving clubs to inherit the new branding as they were rebranded Merkur Bingo:

• Cricklewood (North London), a landmark venue frequently cited as one of the largest bingo halls in Europe, with a capacity of around 3,000.
• Northampton.
• Lowestoft.

This English chapter, however, proved relatively short. In May 2024, Merkur sold its two largest and most prominent clubs, Cricklewood and Northampton, directly to Buzz Bingo, in a deal struck with the Gauselmann family. The remaining club, Lowestoft, followed in March 2025, sold separately to independent operator Real Fun Group (owners of the Majestic Bingo brand). By the time that second sale completed, Merkur no longer operated any bingo clubs on the British mainland at all, bringing a clean end to the Merkur Bingo name’s first outing, even as the venues themselves continued trading, simply under new ownership and (in Buzz Bingo’s case) yet another rebrand.

The Oasis acquisition and Northern Ireland (2025 to present)

Merkur’s current bingo interests are built on a very different foundation: Oasis, one of Northern Ireland’s longest-standing gaming and amusements businesses. Oasis was founded in 1968 by Belfast entrepreneur Gerald Steinberg, initially in amusement machines, at a time when Northern Ireland’s gaming industry operated under its own distinct legislation, separate from the rest of the UK. Over the following decades the company, trading for much of its life as Oasis Retail Services under the Oasis Leisure Group, grew into the province’s largest gaming and amusement operator, with bingo halls forming a natural extension of that wider amusements business.

In 2025, Merkur Casino UK completed its acquisition of Oasis Retail Services, marking the group’s first move into the Northern Ireland market. The deal brought two existing bingo clubs under the Merkur umbrella:

• Cookstown, a long-running club known for its big sessions and loyal regular crowd.
• Bangor, since rebranded away from the Oasis name entirely, now trading as Bangor Bingo.

Following the acquisition, the Oasis parent company was formally renamed Merkur Operations NI Holdings Limited in late 2025, closing the book on roughly 25 years of trading as Oasis Leisure Group, even though the Oasis brand itself has continued in day-to-day use at club level.

The group then expanded further in May 2026, opening a brand-new bingo hall in Belfast, on Botanic Avenue, trading under the Oasis name. This was a genuine new opening rather than a rebrand or relocation. Oasis had previously maintained a separate, amusements-only presence elsewhere in Belfast, offering slots and gaming machines but no bingo sessions, so Botanic Avenue represented the brand’s first dedicated bingo venue in the city itself.

Current Merkur Bingo estate (as of September 2026)

Under Merkur’s ownership, the group’s Northern Ireland bingo interests now stand at three clubs, spread across two brand names:

• Oasis Bingo, Cookstown.
• Oasis Bingo, Belfast (Botanic Avenue), opened May 2026.
• Bangor Bingo, formerly Oasis-branded, now trading independently of the name.

Merkur’s mainland English bingo operations, by contrast, no longer exist. Cricklewood and Northampton are now part of the Buzz Bingo estate, and Lowestoft belongs to Real Fun Group’s Majestic Bingo business. Bingo remains a relatively small part of Merkur’s overall UK footprint, which is dominated by its much larger network of Adult Gaming Centres, run under the Merkur Slots brand across more than 200 high street venues nationwide.