About Us.

Beacon Bingo was founded by Jimmy Thomas in 1963 through Thomas Automatics, which designed, manufactured, supplied and exported amusement and leisure equipment to 39 countries. The first Beacon bingo club opened in 1966.

In 1978, Beacon opened the first new build bingo club in the UK in Hounslow West London; this was followed in 1991 when the ground breaking club in Northampton opened changing the face of live bingo in the UK.

The progress continued on 29th June 1995 when Beacon opened the largest and most successful bingo club in the world; Its flagship and World Record holding Beacon Bingo club at Cricklewood, London. Since then Beacon has launched electronic bingo in all our clubs and pioneered ‘noisy’ bingo in Northampton, Lowestoft, Loughborough and Redcar.

In April 2010, Beacon Bingo became part of the Praesepe Group. Our head office is based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire and employs over 1,660 people across its 200 gaming venues, machines workshop and support centre. Praesepe was acquired by the Gauselmann Group in 2012.

On 20th November 2014 Cricklewood became the World Record holder for the highest payout in a single game of bingo, with £100,000 being given away to one very lucky winner!

In 2020 Gauselmann launched the brand MERKUR Slots in to the UK. This expansion project is ongoing and has seen a significant investment in the UK high street gambling venues. These venues offer latest in digital slot gaming product in convenient high street locations.

In 2021 Beacon Bingo renamed to MERKUR Bingo, bringing all our gaming clubs and venues across the UK inline under the MERKUR brand including MERKUR Slots and MERKUR Casino UK.