Bally’s Eyes £225M Deal for William Hill as Evoke Looks to Cut Losses

It has been on the cards for months now, but it looks like someone has finally stepped up and shown an interest in taking William Hill off of Evoke Plc’s hands. Evoke is currently in talks with the US casino brand Bally’s Intralot, regarding an offer that would price William Hill at 50p a share, valuing the UK bookmaker at around £225 million. Even an outsider, who has no idea how much these businesses cost or how they are exactly acquired and exchanged hands, could tell you that £225 million of a bookmaker of William Hill’s ilk sounds like a steal.

For comparison, there are the ongoing talks to sell Caesars, which could fetch an acquisition fee in the range of $6.5 to $7 billion. The problem is, William Hill is in trouble here, and Evoke is looking to cut its losses, including a net debt of around £1.8 billion, which was taken on by the acquisition of William Hill. As an asset, William Hill is a difficult sell right now, because it is not living up to expectations, and Evoke has had to close 200 of the 1,400 high street betting shops it bought back in 2022. Add on the impending sports betting duty hikes that will come into effect next year, and it becomes clearer why Evoke is so fixated on either selling or breaking up William Hill.

Evoke in Talks with Bally’s

The talks between Evoke and Bally’s are understood to be at an advanced stage right now, with Bally having until 18 May to confirm whether it will make an offer or withdraw from the talks. The figure that is being entertained for the acquisition of William Hill is around £225 million, with shares valued at 50p each. That is almost one third higher than the current share rates, and the investors are looking at an all-share combination with Bally’s.

Nothing has been confirmed yet, and there is still time to iron out details, specifically in regard to the massive $1.8 billion debt that Evoke is facing, until the deadline. But the most likely scenario would be Bally’s Corporation buying out the licences, shops, operations and the rights to William Hill as a brand.

Bally’s Interest in William Hill

Bally’s is a promising candidate for William Hill because it is steadily expanding its global footprint, and has a growing portfolio of landbased US casinos. Most recently, Bally’s won one of the 3 downstate NYC commercial casino licences with its project, Bally’s Bronx. It is also working on a $1.7 billion project in Chicago, and has a project in the works on the Las Vegas Strip, on the site of the former Tropicana.

Recently, Bally’s celebrated the reopening of former riverboat casino Bally’s Marquette in Iowa, indicating that this is very much a company on the rise. Getting ahold of William Hill does not just expand Bally’s international portfolio. It is far more consequential than that. It means Bally’s can gain a foothold in one of the biggest markets in the world, the UK iGaming sector. And, it would be onloading a brand that needs no introduction, as one of the oldest bookies in the UK.

William Hill Situation

William Hill has really fallen from its peak, with a decline in retail sales and continuously fragmented operations. In the 2000s William Hill was among the biggest bookies in the UK, with thousands of retail shops and a strong presence in the UK betting industry. Alongside other major bookies, William Hill expanded into online betting in the mid 2010s, but it was slower to adapt to these platforms.

In 2020, it was acquired by Caesars Entertainment, and then a year later, William Hill was broken up, with Caesars selling the non-US assets to Evoke plc, while keeping the US arm. Now just focusing on the domestic UK market and various European ones, Evoke took on major debt to manage the deal, but the gamble didn’t pay off. With UK affordability and RG checks, tax pressures, and tougher market conditions emerging in the UK, Evoke struggled with the debt package.

Just last year, Evoke made it known that it would consider acquisition talks to sell William Hill, and was also open to the idea of further breaking down the once untouchable bookie. It closed many high street betting shops in 2025, amid concerns about the impending UK gambling tax hikes, and now Evoke – or rather William Hill – is at the end of a very tight dead end.

Evoke’s Other Brands

Evoke, a London listed company that is based in Gibraltar, is one of many operators to get caught in the regulatory changes and stricter market conditions of the UK. It is harsh territory that only looks more harrowing and difficult for operators to get desired margins out of. And that doesn’t only affect William Hill, but Evoke’s other brands too. However, the company’s other ventures, Mr Green and 888casino, are more digitalized than William Hill, and thus they are better adapted to these changes.

UK Gambling Duty Hikes and Woes

The funny (peculiar, not funny-funny) thing here is that retail betting duty has not changed in the UK. Neither has horse race betting (which has now become a part of general retail betting). Only iGaming and remote sports betting (online bookies) have been hit with gambling tax hikes. But as these are the main sources of revenue for major companies like Evoke, and the margins are higher than retail shops, which have maintenance and staff costs – it is the retail betting shops that may get hit hardest here. Them and the smaller operators in the UK.

Relocation or changing game plans have seen Flutter relocate Sky Bet to Malta, and shut down loads of Paddy Power retail shops. But the company has also taken positive forward momentum, recently expanding on its Tombola platform by adding an arcade games app. The landscape here is shifting, with online casino and sports (and other verticals) taking priority over focusing efforts on the gambling sectors that have avoided the tax hikes (retail betting, horse racing, retail bingo).

Caesars x Fertitta Potential Deal and Other Big Moves

Across the pond, in the US, Caesars is going through a similar process. Caesars Entertainment has suffered a heavy decline in revenue over the past few years, and it is entertaining talks of a buyout, with reports linking Tilman Fertitta to a possible $6.5 billion to a $7 billion deal. Fertitta owns the Golden Nugget casino franchise, Landry’s Inc, the Houston Rockets of the NBA and many high end catering brands. A big player in the US market, they look a prime candidate to restore Caesars and find a new way forward to cut back on the company’s massive debt package.

It really speaks volumes to the great split between the two markets. On the one hand, you have the US market that has heavy restrictions on online casinos that are only available in 8 states and online sports betting, while growing, is still a very young market, having been legalized at a federal level in 2018. On the other side, you have the UK market, which has time-old bookies and a mature market with high engagement figures. Only the UK market is becoming more restricted and retail betting is becoming more exposed. This easily shows how the US market can command such mind-blowing acquisition bids, whereas the UK, with its legacy-heavy operators, can command a fraction of what they were once worth.

Challenges to Survive in the UK Gambling Sector

Across the board, operators in the UK are consolidating, restructuring their operations, and experimenting with new verticals to offset the threat of gambling tax hikes and overregulation. They are dealing with a plethora of issues, including:

• Increasingly strict affordability checks
• Rising compliance and licensing costs
• Higher taxation on online betting and iGaming
• Declining retail revenue and engagement
• Intensifying competition from more agile, digital first brands

It is not all bad news for UK operators, as there is definitely a focus on making more innovative products and the UKGC may even potentially consider the notion of entertaining cryptocurrency sites in the future. But operators have to play their cards more cautiously now. Even the biggest brands are going to suffer from the impacts of the regulatory changes and tax hikes, and the path forward cannot be strewn with blown out gambles on mergers or risky new products. Investors, like Bally’s, need to look at the bigger picture here and be prepared for a market that may slow down during these transitional years before it begins to pick up again.