Evoke reports 7% revenue drop, urges UK government against further gambling tax hikes

Evoke, the owner of William Hill, 888 and Mr Green, reported a 7% year-on-year decline in third-quarter revenue to £406 million. The company attributed part of the decline to customer-friendly football results at the start of the season, which it said reduced growth by one to two percentage points. On a like-for-like basis, excluding the impact of approximately 270 betting shop closures over the past year, revenue fell 2%. Evoke said adjusting for the sports results left revenue broadly stable on a normalised basis. Chief executive Per Widerström said the underlying business showed resilience and a focus on profitability following substantial tax increases in the UK. "The closure of 270 shops over the past year shows the real impact on jobs and livelihoods from higher industry taxation, and we urge the UK government to carefully consider any further increases ahead of its forthcoming autumn budget," Widerström said. The government is reportedly considering a rise in machine games duty in next week's budget.

The company's proposed acquisition by Bally’s Intralot remains on schedule. Shareholders have approved the required resolutions and most regulatory approvals have been secured. Completion is expected in late fourth quarter of 2026 or early first quarter of 2027. "We remain focused on disciplined execution and operational efficiency as we progress towards completion of the acquisition," Widerström said.

The shop closures were a response to tax changes announced last November. Remote gaming duty for online casino games increased from 21% to 40% in April 2026. A new 25% duty for most online sports betting will take effect in April 2027. Evoke estimated these changes would raise its annual duty costs by £125 million to £135 million once fully in place. The company said it planned to offset about half of that increase through cost-cutting measures, including the store closures.

Evoke had previously warned that tax rises could force it to close between 120 and 200 William Hill shops, putting up to 1,500 jobs at risk. The final number of closures reached approximately 270. The company reported a pre-tax loss of £549.1 million for 2025, more than double the previous year's loss of £220.9 million. It has not specified how many jobs were lost in the closures, but said hundreds were expected to be affected. Industry leaders said last week that more than 600 betting shops have closed across Britain since the 2025 budget, with over 10,000 jobs lost or at risk. They asked the chancellor to leave machine games duty unchanged and to pause the planned 2027 betting duty increase. Rival gambling group Flutter recently announced around 1,400 job cuts in the UK and Ireland, citing an inability to fully absorb the impact of higher duties.