William hill owner evoke close betting-shops

The debt-laden gambling group behind William Hill is gearing up to shut about one in ten of its betting shops in the new year as it battles to reverse its fortunes.
Bosses at Evoke, the FTSE 250 company that acquired William Hill for £2 billion in 2022, are understood to be eyeing a raft of closures as part of a review of its high street bookmakers and ahead of expected tax rises in Rachel Reeves’s budget on November 26.

The final number of stores due to close has not yet been decided. However, one senior industry figure said that 120 shops are to be shuttered. Other sources said the number of closures could be nearer 200. At the higher level, about 1,500 jobs could be lost.
The potential closures would equate to between 9 and 15 per cent of William Hill’s estate of about 1,300 shops.
Betting industry executives at other firms warned that William Hill’s plans could be replicated across the industry if Reeves hits the sector with tax rises after pressure from former prime minister Gordon Brown.

Brown claimed the gambling industry was “undertaxed”, and that slapping levies on the sector was “by far the most cost-effective way” to address a “social crisis”, with a growing need to take children out of poverty.
Formerly known as 888 Holdings before rebranding itself as Evoke in 2024, the Gibraltar-domiciled and London-headquartered company has been trying to turn itself around after years of losses.


Its share price has fallen by almost 30 per cent over the past 12 months and is down more than 83 per cent over the past five years. The company posted a pre-tax loss of £78 million for the first half of 2025. It has debts totalling £1.8 billion against a market value of about £210 million. Much of that debt is linked to the takeover of William Hill.
A spokesman for Evoke said it was “continuously reviewing and adapting our shop portfolio to ensure it aligns with our long-term strategy for sustainable, profitable growth”.
Bosses are also understood to be looking at “scenarios” ahead of the budget, meaning the number of stores to close could vary according to the measures unveiled by Reeves.
Ministers have been consulting on plans to change the way in which gambling is taxed in a bid to reflect how the industry has changed with the explosion of digital betting.
The Evoke spokesman added: “As a regulated and licensed UK operator, we are also mindful of potential tax increases in the forthcoming budget on top of the rising costs.
“As part of our ongoing planning, we are assessing the potential impact of different tax scenarios on our UK operations. This includes the difficult but necessary consideration for further shop closures.”
Last month, more than 100 Labour MPs wrote to Reeves, urging her to raise gambling taxes and use the funds to fight child poverty in Britain. This followed a report by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) think tank, which claimed that taxing the gambling industry harder could raise as much as £3 billion for the public purse.

The prospect of a November tax raid has sparked an explosion of outraged lobbying from gambling companies, which disputed the IPPR’s report, pointing to the economic contribution made by gambling to the UK economy and arguing that tax rises would harm jobs and investment and drive customers towards black market betting.

Stella David, the chief executive of Ladbrokes’ parent company, Entain, said earlier this month that it would have to close betting shops and reroute investment to other markets in the event of tax rises.
Increased national insurance contributions levied on employers by the chancellor in April, alongside a 6.7 per cent rise in the minimum wage, have already raised costs for businesses in sectors such as retail and hospitality.
Evoke said in March that it was facing a £10 million hit from tax rises, and was planning to strip out between £15 million and £25 million in costs to offset the impact.
Retail revenues were down 2 per cent over the first half of 2025 but returned to growth in the second quarter, Evoke said.
Its spokesman added: “We are fully committed to continuing to improve the performance in our retail business, and were pleased to report a return to revenue growth in the second quarter this year, driven by the successful implementation of new technology across the estate, our initiatives and people.”
A spokesman for the Treasury said: “We are consulting on bringing online betting in line with other forms of online gambling to cut down bureaucracy. It is not about increasing or decreasing tax rates, and we welcome all views.”