William Hill parent Evoke weighs sale after UK tax shock
Evoke, owner of William Hill and 888, is exploring a break-up or full sale of the business after the recent rise in UK gambling taxes reignited questions over its future.
Shares in Evoke, whose market value has slumped from about £1.7bn in 2021, jumped on the announcement. The Guardian reported that investors had “watched the value of the company plummet by more than 90% to less than £100m”, while noting that the stock “rose almost 9%” after the group confirmed it was considering a sale.
Strategic review after Budget blow
In a statement to the stock market, the heavily indebted company said it had appointed Morgan Stanley and Rothschild to examine its options, the Guardian reported. The company told investors it had “decided to undertake a review of the company’s strategic options, which will include the consideration of a range of potential alternatives”, the paper reported.
The trigger was the Autumn Budget delivered by Chancellor Rachel Reeves. In the government’s new fiscal plan, Remote Gaming Duty on online casino-style games will rise from 21% to 40% from April 2026, a rise industry figures described as one of the steepest increases ever applied to a regulated gambling product. The duty on online sports betting will also climb from 15% to 25% in the following year. Official Treasury forecasts suggest the overall package could generate around £1.1bn in additional annual revenue by 2029, with ministers arguing the reforms are necessary to curb gambling-related harm and fund broader social policies.
Evoke warned on the night of the Budget that, without any mitigating action, the higher taxes would “increase its costs by between roughly £125mn and £135mn from 2027,” according to the Financial Times. The company also said the changes would “drive customers to the black market, reduce overall tax generation, lead to thousands of job losses, and decrease investment in UK sports”, the Guardian reported.
Heavy debts and shrinking valuation
The strategic review marks a dramatic reversal for a business that only four years ago embarked on what the Guardian called an “unexpected foray into bricks-and-mortar betting”, when it “paid £2.2bn to buy William Hill’s network of 1,400 bookmakers” from Caesars Entertainment.
That deal left the group carrying substantial borrowings, with a net debt standing at 1.82 billion pounds at the end of June.
Evoke’s market value has collapsed in parallel. The Financial Times said the company’s market capitalisation had sunk to “just £94.3mn, down from a peak of about £1.7bn in 2021”.
From turnaround story to renewed crisis
Until the Budget, Evoke had been presenting itself as a repair job that was starting to work. In August, the company reported it had delivered its “fourth consecutive quarter of revenue growth”, with adjusted EBITDA up 44% in the first half of 2025. Chief executive Per Widerström said the improvement was “clear evidence of the transformation and operational reset” of the business.
International operations were the standout, with revenues rising 13% and EBITDA “more than doubling to £85.5m”. Italy, in particular, was described as a market where 888casino “continues to outperform both local and omni-channel competitors”.
Yet despite Italy’s strength, Evoke has been considering a potential retreat from the country as part of a contingency plan in response to the UK’s tax regime. The company appointed the investment bank Morgan Stanley to prepare an exploratory mandate to assess market interest in a possible divestment, stressing that any decision to sell the Italian operation would be a last resort.
Italy is one of Evoke’s four core international markets, alongside Spain, Denmark and Romania. Its international division accounts for just under one-third of the group’s total revenues but nearly half of consolidated EBITDA.
Industry warns of ‘jackpot’ for black market
The wider UK gambling industry has reacted with fury to Reeves’ tax package. The Betting and Gaming Council denounced the reforms as “one of the largest tax hikes on any industry in modern times”, warning that operators already facing heavy regulatory costs would struggle to absorb such a steep rise. Its chief executive, Grainne Hurst, said “the only winner from this Budget is the black market – they’ve hit the jackpot,” arguing that increases in Remote Gaming Duty and sports betting duty will inevitably push more customers towards unlicensed sites.
Industry modelling cited by the BGC suggests that billions of pounds in stakes could be displaced to offshore operators, with almost 17,000 jobs at risk across the regulated sector. Hurst insisted that “steep tax rises layered on top of major new regulation will not make gambling safer” and instead risk undermining the very consumer protections the government says it wants to strengthen.
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