- Plunge in William Hill-owner Evoke’s share price draws a predator
- Debt, competition and changes in tax and regulation have taken their toll on betting and gaming firm
- Shares’ failure to near the 50p bid price suggests investors have doubts about the Greek bid, or at least the limited cash portion of it
- A successful deal would leave betting giant William Hill with its ninth different owner since the death of its founder in 1971
“A grinding decline in the share price of betting and gaming specialist Evoke is persuading Greece’s Bally’s Intralot to place a contrarian bet on the betting and gaming specialist with a bid of 50p a share, which values the British firm at around £225 million,” says AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.
“If the deal goes through then ownership of one of British betting history’s most storied names, William Hill, will change yet again in a sign of just how much tougher life is now for British bookmakers.
Source: LSEG Refinitiv data
“Evoke’s share price peaked when the firm’s name was still 888 Holdings in 2021, as lockdowns, working from home and the latest wave of merger and acquisition across the betting and gaming industries buoyed both betting turnover and company valuations.
“However, little has gone right since. The £2 billion purchase of William Hill’s UK, European and international operations from America’s Caesars Entertainment, which had swooped for the British firm’s online technology and US market presence, saddled 888 with a debt pile with which it has struggled ever since.
“Those borrowings, which still came to a net liability of £1.8 billion including leases as of June 2025, have made it harder for Evoke (as 888 became known in 2024) to invest in its position and compete in a marketplace which gets tougher and tougher, as bigger rivals offer a wide range of services and regulation and tax put on a further squeeze in core markets such as the UK.
“The lockdown betting boom ended and profit warnings in 2023 as 888 and then in 2024 and early 2026 as Evoke were the result.
Source: Company accounts, Marketscreener, consensus analyst’ forecasts
“The UK in particular clamped down, with restrictions on stakes on fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) in shops and stricter rules on safer gambling, including contentious deposit and affordability checks.
“Then came November 2025’s Budget, which increased betting and gaming duties. Chancellor Rachel Reeves hiked Remote Gaming Duties to 40% from 21% and replaced the 15% General Betting Duty with a new 25% Online Sports Betting Duty. The former came into force this month and the latter will do so in April 2027 across all sports except horse racing.
“Evoke paid £329 million in duties and taxes in 2024 and asserted that its bill would jump by more than £125 million a year once the Online Sports Betting Duty comes into force next April. That hit adds to the interest burden from the debt and puts further pressure on Evoke’s bottom line.
“Management responded to the Budget hit with cost cuts and also a strategic review, which opened up the possibility of the sale of key assets, if not the entire business.
“The scale of the company’s woes are reflected by how the Bally’s Intralot bid comes to around £225 million for the equity (with the net debt and lease liabilities on top), a figure that is well below the £585 million price that Evoke paid for William Hill alone back in 2022. The total bill for that deal was some £2 billion thanks to William Hill’s own borrowings which Evoke inherited.
“Even so, investors seem sceptical as to whether the deal is a runner, given how Evoke’s share price is not getting anywhere near the 50p-a-share offer price. Bally’s Intralot is offering an all-stock deal, which may not appeal to everyone, even if there may be a partial cash alternative.
“The tepid share price response may also reflect the history of failed takeover bids across the UK bookmaking and betting industry in the past 10 years and the ongoing tightening of the regulatory screw here in Britain.
“The deal also highlights how William Hill’s lustre as a brand and an asset is not what it was, thanks to changes in the betting industry and technology, as well as tax and legislation.
“When the eponymous William Hill died in 1971, his firm was one of the dominant, Big Four high street betting firms alongside Ladbrokes, Coral, and Mecca. None of those companies are independent now even if three of them still operate shops and online.
“Mecca and William Hill merged in the late 1980s when Grand Metropolitan owned both of them. Ladbrokes merged with what was then GalaCoral in 2016 and the new entity was gobbled up by GVC (now Entain) in 2017, with the result that Flutter, Entain, Bet365 and BetFred are the new Big Four.
“If the deal goes through, William Hill would end up with its ninth owner since its founder’s death.
“The retail group Sears was the first owner of the bookie upon Mr William Hill’s demise when it took the plunge in 1971 as part of a diversification plan. Grand Metropolitan was next up in 1988, and quickly followed by Brent Walker (1989), Nomura (1997) and finally a private equity consortium (1999). Then came a spell in public ownership on the London Stock Exchange, after 2002’s flotation, and that ended with the Caesars bid in 2021, while Evoke (or 888 as it was then) bought William Hill’s international operations in 2022.”
APPENDIX: BRITISH BOOKMAKING – MAJOR EVENTS TIMELINE SINCE 2000
2000
Bet365 begins trading
Betfair begins trading
Betandwin floats on the Vienna stock exchange, three years after its launch
2001
SkyBet begins trading
2002
William Hill floats on the London Stock Exchange
888 Holdings is established
2003
Candover-Cinven private equity consortium buys Gala
2004
GVC lists on London’s AIM market
Done Bookmakers renames itself Betfred
2005
Gala buys Coral-Eurobet
William Hill buys Stanley Leisure
PartyGaming floats on the London Stock Exchange, eight years after its launch
2006
Betandwin changes its name to bwin
2007
Stan James acquires Betdirect from 32Red
2008
Stan James acquires Betterbet
2010
Betfair floats on the London Stock Exchange
2011
Betfred buys the Tote (and a seven-year exclusive licence for pool betting)
William Hill buys American Wagering and two other US businesses
Bwin Interactive mergers with PartyGaming
2012
Rank acquires Gala Coral’s casinos
William Hill and GVC jointly acquire and break up Sportingbet
2013
William Hill buys three businesses to set up its Australian operation
2014
BetVictor is acquired by Michael Tabor
Sky sells a stake in SkyBet to CVC
2015
Unibet (Kindred) buys Stan James’ online business
William Hill makes an unsuccessful bid for 888
2016
Ladbrokes mergers with Gala-Coral to form Ladbrokes-Coral
Paddy Power merges with Betfair
GVC acquires bwin.party
888 and Rank make a failed bid for William Hill
Amaya makes a failed bid for William Hill
2017
Kindred acquired 32Red
2018
GVC acquires Ladbrokes-Coral
GVC acquires CrystalBet
William Hill sells its Australian business to CrownBet
Stars Group acquires SkyBet
Paddy Power Betfair acquires stake in Fan Duel
Stars Group acquires William Hill Australia
2019
William Hill acquires Mr Green
888 acquires Betbright
Boylesports acquires Wilf Gilbert
GVC forms MGM joint venture in USA with MGM Resorts
Flutter Entertainment (Paddy Power Betfair, as was) acquires Adjarabet
Flutter Entertainment (Paddy Power Betfair, as was) acquires Stars Group
2020
Boylesports acquires William Hill’s Northern Irish shops
William Hill receives separate bids from Apollo Management and Caesars Entertainment
GVC changes its name to Entain
Flutter Entertainment increases stake in FanDuel to 95%
2021
Entain rejects bid from MGM Resorts
William Hill is acquired by Caesars Entertainment
888 buys William Hill’s European operations from Caesars Entertainment
Entain rejects bid from DraftKings
2022
Flutter Entertainment buys online bingo operator Tombola
Flutter Entertainment buys Sisal in Italy
2023
Entain acquires Angstrom Sports
Entain acquires STS
888 acquires BetLion
DraftKings explores and abandons a bid for 888
Entain acquires BetCity
FS Gaming Investments’ bid to take over leadership at 888 fails amid regulatory review
888 rejects takeover bid from Playtech
2024
888 changes its name to Evoke
Evoke sells US consumer business to Hard Rock Digital
2025
Flutter Entertainment buys Italy’s Snaitech from Playtech
Flutter Entertainment buys stake in Brazil’s NSX, which operates BetNacional
Greece’s Intralot buys International Interactive business of US firm Bally’s
2026
Bally’s Intralot launches talks to take over Evoke
