The threat by UK gambling mega channel Entain to shutter its high street bookies if hit by big new taxes has now been followed by Evoke, who have warned that they too are prepared to close their blue ribband William Hill betting shops.
According to latest reports, troubled Evoke, already struggling with high debt thanks to previous corporate profligacy, is now poised to sack 1,500 workers and close up to 200 of its iconic 1,300 William Hill bookies, if–as anticipated–British chancellor Rachel Reeves hikes gambling taxes in the forthcoming Autumn Budget.
FTSE 250 Evoke, then known as 888 Holdings, plunged into debt when its then CEO Itai Pazner paid £2.2 billion (US$2.93bn) in July, 2022 to Caesars Entertainment for the discarded elements of William Hill, which had been bought in April the previous year by the American gambling leviathan for £2.9 billion (US$3.86bn) — and gutted of its digital expertise and U.S. operations.
Rebrand
The move triggered a further collapse in the company’s share price and Pazner, a long-standing executive, who had served 888 Holdings in a number of roles, was unceremoniously dumped as CEO in January 2023.
As part of the corporate cleansing 888 Holdings, now helmed by Swedish Per Widerström, was rebranded as Evoke Plc. in May last year.
Widerström’s low-key regime has worked hard to turn the company around – and to keep the omnichannel out of the negative headlines.
But its share price, standing at 45.88 GBX today (October 13) has yo-yoed wildly during the last year, hitting a high of 77.02 GBX and a low of 36.80 GBX. It posted a pre-tax loss of £78 million (US$104.03m) for H1 this year and has current debts of some £1.8 billion (US$2.4bn).
Tax Hikes
The anticipated gambling tax hikes in the November 26 budget, raising levies on iGaming and high street retail betting to the 50 percent mark, will hit the owners of Mr Green and the 888 casino, poker and sport brands, et cetera, hard.
In the last month former British Labour prime minister Gordon Brown, around 100 socialist backbench MPs and the left-leaning Institute for Public Policy Research have all argued for raising taxes on British gambling as an additional way of tackling child poverty.
This year the industry paid £3.6 billion (US$4.8bn) in taxes and the predicted tax rises would raise an extra £3.2 billion (US$4.26bn), say proponents.
But the gambling industry’s representative British Gaming Council–and many industry watchers–warn that rather than increasing the tax yield, higher levies will only drive punters to illicit off-shore sites, and, if anything, lower the tax take.
Iconic
Meantime, a spokesperson for Evoke has confirmed to the media in a statement:
“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.
“We are assessing the potential impact of different tax scenarios on our UK operations [and] as part of our ongoing planning, this includes the difficult but necessary consideration for further shop closures.”
It would seem that the iconic William Hill logo, first launched in 1934 and in many ways synonymous with the best of British betting, will no longer grace many of our national high streets.
