Rank Group needs to find fresh ways to broaden the appeal of bingo, according to its chief executive.
A recent slump in attendances has hit revenues and contributed to a profit warning.
Ian Burke has admitted that a two-year battle to buy 19 casinos from rival Gala Coral had distracted his attention from underlying problems at the group's Mecca Bingo business.
"I realise I wasn't as focused on other parts of the business," said Burke.
Cost-of-living pressures on bingo customers have been cited as the principal reason for falls in attendances, although Rank also blamed the hot weather in July for a lack of customers in Mecca Bingo and Grosvenor Casinos.
Burke said the last nine months had seen "an acceleration in the decline in frequency" at the group's 97 bingo clubs.
He added: "We have not found a way to broaden the appeal, but we haven't given up on it. We have broadened our casino product most effectively, and we've been trying to do the same in Mecca.
"I wonder whether we've missed things in terms of building community. The game itself has become a bit mechanical and we've lost a bit of that community aspect."
