Evoke posts drop in Q3 revenue, urges govt not to introduce more gambling taxes

(Sharecast News) - William Hill and 888 owner Evoke reported a drop in third-quarter revenue on Friday as it pointed to customer-friendly results, and called on the government not to introduce any further taxes on gambling ahead of the Autumn Budget next week.

In the three months to September end, group revenue fell 7% to £406m. On a like-for-like constant currency basis excluding the impact of the closure of around 270 retail shops, this marked a 2% decline.

Evoke said "particularly" customer-friendly sports results in the beginning of the football season were an approximately 1-2 percentage point headwind to year-over-year revenue growth.

The company said its acquisition by Greece's Bally's Intralot remains on track, with both sets of shareholders having passed the required resolutions at the relevant shareholder meetings, and the majority of the required regulatory approvals having now been received.

Chief executive Per Widerström said: "On an underlying basis the business continues to show resilience and reflects our continued emphasis on profitability and cash generation following the substantial increases in gaming duties, particularly 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.

"We remain focused on disciplined execution and operational efficiency as we progress towards completion of the acquisition, which continues to progress as planned towards completing in late Q4 2026 or early Q1 2027."

At 1435 BST, the shares were down 0.1% at 42.05p.

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