evoke Q3 revenue down 7% to £406m after 270 shop closures

evoke, the London-listed group behind William Hill, 888 and Mr Green, made £406 million in revenue in the third quarter of 2026, 7% less than a year earlier. The main reason is a smaller shop estate: evoke now runs about 270 fewer William Hill betting shops than it did in the same period of 2025. The figures, published on 23 October, cover the three months to 30 September and are unaudited.

What the 7% hides

evoke gives three readings of the same quarter:

• Reported: revenue down 7% to £406 million.
• Like-for-like, at constant currency: down 2%. This strips out the shops that closed and translates both years at 2026 exchange rates, so it compares the business that still exists with itself.
• Normalised: "broadly stable". Sports results went the customers' way at the start of the football season, which evoke says cost about 1 to 2 percentage points of growth. Adjust for that, and revenue roughly held level.

On our reading of those figures, most of the drop comes from shops that are no longer there, and much of the rest from customers winning more often than usual at the start of the football season.

Why the shops closed

The closures came in two rounds. About 70 shops shut in the last quarter of 2025, and around 200 more from 24 May 2026, evoke told NEXT.io. The second round was decided just before Remote Gaming Duty, the UK tax on online casino games, rose from 21% to 40% on 1 April 2026, SBC News reports. evoke told NEXT.io that no further closures are planned, subject to the outcome of the Autumn Budget.

Chief executive Per Widerström used the update to lobby on tax. "The closure of 270 shops over the past year shows the real impact on jobs and livelihoods from higher industry taxation," he said, "and we urge the UK Government to carefully consider any further increases ahead of its forthcoming Autumn Budget."

evoke is not alone in blaming tax. Flutter cited the same pressure when it restructured its UK and Ireland business. The shops that remain still rely heavily on gaming machines, which the Gambling Commission is regulating more closely through its new session standards for Category B machines.

The Bally's Intralot takeover

evoke is being bought by Bally's Intralot, a gambling group listed on the Athens stock exchange. According to the update, shareholders of both companies have approved the deal, and most, but not all, of the regulatory approvals are in. Subject to the remaining conditions being satisfied or waived, completion is expected late in the fourth quarter of 2026 or early in the first quarter of 2027.

The deal is all-share, NEXT.io reports, and values evoke at 52p per share, or £243.1 million, SBC News reports; evoke is expected to leave the London Stock Exchange once it completes.

What it means for players

The 888 brand is still expanding in places, most recently with regulated poker in Alberta. The change players can already see is on the high street, where there are about 270 fewer William Hill shops than a year ago.

The results come in the same week as Betsson's third-quarter report, which showed record revenue but lower operating profit.