Evoke, which owns the gambling brands William Hill, 888, and Mr Green, reported a 7% drop in third-quarter revenue on Friday, urging the government to refrain from increasing gambling taxes in the forthcoming autumn budget. Group revenue for the three months ending September 30, 2026, was £406 million. When excluding approximately 270 betting shops that were closed over the past year and adjusting for constant exchange rates, revenue experienced a more modest decline of 2%. The company attributed some of the revenue stagnation to favorable football results for bettors at the start of the season, which detracted one to two percentage points from anticipated growth, leaving underlying revenue largely unchanged.
Chief Executive Per Widerström commented on the business's resilience, emphasizing the focus on profitability and cash generation amidst significant increases in gaming duties, particularly in the UK. He stressed that the closure of 270 shops illustrates the severe impact of heightened industry taxation on employment and livelihoods and urged the UK government to reconsider any further tax increases ahead of the budget.
Contrary to expectations, betting shop taxes remained unaltered in the last budget; while increased duties were implemented for online gaming and betting, the rates for machine games and bets placed in physical shops were kept the same. Evoke has mentioned that it is closing shops partly to mitigate the financial burden of increased taxes on online gambling.
While the company highlighted its commitment to profitability and cash generation, details on profit, earnings, or cash figures were not provided in the update.
In other news, Evoke confirmed that the acquisition by Bally’s Intralot is progressing as planned. Shareholders of both firms have approved the merger, and most regulatory approvals are in place. The transaction is expected to be finalized in late fourth quarter 2026 or early first quarter 2027. Widerström stated that the company remains dedicated to disciplined execution and operational efficiency as it moves toward completing the acquisition.
The shop closures are directly linked to tax changes introduced last November. Specifically, remote gaming duty surged from 21% to 40% on April 1, 2026, and a new 25% rate for remote betting will be implemented on April 1, 2027, while maintaining a 15% rate for remote bets on UK horse racing. Evoke anticipates that these changes will increase its annual duty costs by approximately £125 million to £135 million, although it aims to offset about half of this increase through savings from suppliers, reduced marketing expenses, store closures, and cost-cutting measures.
Prior to the budget, Evoke had signaled that it might have to shutter between 120 and 200 William Hill shops, potentially impacting up to 1,500 jobs. By March, the company announced plans to permanently close around 200 UK shops, accounting for nearly 15% of its retail presence, with closures starting in May. This number later increased to 270.
Evoke also reported that pre-tax losses had more than doubled, reaching £549.1 million compared to £220.9 million in 2024, without disclosing the specific number of jobs at risk, though it is expected to result in the loss of hundreds of jobs.
Further reflecting industry challenges, executives from the six largest gambling companies in Britain indicated that over 600 betting shops had closed, leading to the loss or risk of redundancy for 10,250 jobs in both online and retail sectors since the 2025 budget. They urged the chancellor to maintain the machine games duty rate unchanged in the impending October 28 budget and to delay implementing the betting duty increase set for April 2027 until the effects of current measures can be properly evaluated.
Evoke began exploring various options, including a sale, in December, shortly after the tax increases prompted it to withdraw its medium-term outlook. In June, the company entered into an all-share agreement where shareholders would receive 0.537 new Bally’s Intralot shares for each Evoke share, valuing the acquisition at 52 pence per share, roughly £243.1 million.
The implications of debt have been significant, stemming from Evoke’s approximately £2 billion acquisition of William Hill’s non-U.S. business from Caesars Entertainment in 2022, leaving it with a debt burden of about £1.86 billion at the close of last year. To finance the deal and refinance Evoke's debt, Bally’s Intralot has secured approximately £889 million in financing from TPG Credit, Oaktree, and OHA.
Evoke declined to provide additional comments when contacted for a follow-up on these developments.
