Following reports in the UK media over the weekend and our own article, Rank, the parent company of Mecca Bingo has confirmed that it is in talk with Gala Coral over the purchase of its casino division.

Rank's Grosvenor division already has 35 casinos but hopes to extend this by adding the 24 outlets owned by debt-laden rival Gala Coral, overtaking Malaysia's Genting as the biggest firm in the sector.

While the Sunday Times claimed the deal could be valued at £250 million, Rank claimed no details had been agreed and the deal was far from certain.

Rank, which operates the Mecca Bingo brand and Grosvenor Casinos is looking to increase the number of casinos it operates. It currently has 35 casino sites, which would increase to 59 if it acquires all 24 of its rivals sites.

The Sunday Times claims that the two companies are in the advanced stages of negotiations and the deal could be agreed by the time Rank reports its interim results on 9th February.

Rank had previously said that it wanted to increase the number of casinos it had to 45 by 2015, however this deal could see the gaming giant exceed that plan by the end of the year. Rank has been concentrating on its new G-Casino format which is aimed at a younger and less formal customer. The business, which employs more than 3,000 people, has all but four of its casinos outside London.

Gala Coral had a net debt of £1.3 billion at the end of 2011 and the deal therefore would enable the company to greatly reduce this and allow it to concentrate its efforts on the Coral bookmaking and Gala Bingo operations. Back in 2010 when the Gala Coral debts were subject to a restructuring plan and investors had to write off huge junks of their assets, there was much speculation that Rank would look to acquire the casino business. It would come as no surprise if Gala Coral split up its business and sold off the bingo clubs, focusing its efforts on the profitable betting operations.

Rank also operates more than 100 bingo clubs under the Mecca brand and owns the Bluesq sports betting and gaming business.

Malaysian firm Genting is currently the UK's biggest casino operator with 45 sites, including its flagship Crockfords casino in London's Mayfair.