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270 William Hill Shops Begin Closing May 24 as UK High-Street Betting Contracts Under 40% Tax

Up to 1,500 jobs at risk, a £549m FY25 loss, Deutsche Bank cuts, and a £225m takeover bid all point to the same conclusion: the new tax regime has rewritten the economics of Britain's biggest legacy bookmaker

Category: iGaming News - UK · By Growl Games Editorial Team · Thu May 14 2026 · Updated Thu Jul 23 2026

270 William Hill Shops Begin Closing May 24 as UK High-Street Betting Contracts Under 40% Tax

Table of Contents

Summary

Evoke plc, parent of William Hill, 888, and Mr Green, begins shutting approximately 270 William Hill betting shops in Great Britain on May 24, 2026 — 13 days from today. The closures, representing roughly 20% of William Hill's circa 1,300-strong retail estate, will put up to 1,500 jobs at risk and stand as the most visible single response by a major British operator to the rise in Remote Gaming Duty from 21% to 40% that took effect on April 1, 2026. The shop programme is one of three concurrent pressures on Evoke this week — alongside the £225 million Bally's Intralot takeover bid (deadline May 18) and the wider Q1 2026 trading environment in which black-market penetration of UK online wagering is now an explicit line in operator results.

The Closures

The 270-shop figure was confirmed in Evoke's full-year results on April 30, 2026, revised up from the 200-shop range flagged in the company's March 31 trading update and from the 120–200 William Hill closures the company privately briefed Labour leaders on last October. The closures begin on May 24, 2026 and roll through the rest of the year. Affected locations have not been published as a single list; Evoke has described them as "underperforming" sites identified through a strategic review of the William Hill retail estate. Within Evoke's roughly 1,300 William Hill shops, the cuts represent approximately 15–20% of the estate, depending on the final closure list. The company has indicated further shop reductions may follow.

The Numbers Behind the Cut

The financial backdrop is severe. Evoke reported a 2025 pre-tax loss of £549.1 million, up from £220.9 million the prior year, driven largely by a £440.3 million impairment charge on UK online and retail. Net debt stood at £1.86 billion, leverage near 5.0x EBITDA. Group revenue rose 2% to £1.78 billion and adjusted underlying profit grew 14% to £356.2 million — improvements that were overwhelmed by the UK tax write-down. UK online revenue fell 3% over 2025; the company cited black-market penetration, particularly in horse-racing betting, as a contributing factor. Q1 2026 trading was reported "in line with expectations," with group revenue up 1% reported and 2% like-for-like excluding retail closures; UK online recovered 5% in the quarter, driven by 8% gaming growth led by William Hill. International revenue fell 2% on declines in Spain and Romania partly offset by Italy and Denmark. Deutsche Bank cut Evoke's FY26 and FY27 EBITDA forecasts by 12% and 18% respectively after the results, with projected earnings per share down 40% in 2026 and 52% in 2027. Evoke withdrew its medium-term financial targets following the November 2025 Budget.

The Tax Driver

The proximate cause is the new tax regime. Remote Gaming Duty rose from 21% to 40% on April 1, 2026 — a near doubling that targeted online slots and casino. Remote betting duty is scheduled to rise to 25% in April 2027 (excluding horse racing). Evoke has guided to £125–135 million in additional annualised duty costs once fully implemented, with an £80 million hit expected in 2026 alone, before mitigation measures the company expects to absorb roughly half of the gross impact. CEO Per Widerström described the package as "a fundamental shift in the economics of our largest market" and has separately called the tax changes "ill-thought-through, counterproductive, and highly damaging." The Office for Budget Responsibility has projected a roughly one-third decline in licensed gross gambling yield as a result of the tax changes. The Treasury's own forecast was £810 million in additional revenue in 2026/27.

Evoke's Strategic Position

Three structural questions overhang the shop programme. First, the takeover. Bally's Intralot — the Athens-listed entity formed by Intralot's €2.7 billion acquisition of Bally's International Interactive in October 2025 — has until 5:00 p.m. London time on May 18 to either submit a firm offer at 50p per share (£225 million equity, roughly £2 billion enterprise value) or walk away under UK Takeover Panel rules. Earlier private equity interest evaporated, with the £1.86 billion net debt position, prospective CMA scrutiny, and the requirement that shareholders accept scrip in a Greek-listed entity cited as the structural issues. Second, the Italy and Mr Green carve-outs, widely flagged as the most likely disposal candidates whether or not the takeover proceeds. Third, the broader question of whether the William Hill brand reverts toward an online-dominant model now that the high-street economics have been reset by tax. The May 24 closures answer one part of that question: the retail estate is being contracted decisively before any further strategic decisions are taken.

Sector Readout

Evoke is not alone in absorbing the new tax regime. Flutter Entertainment's Q1 2026 results disclosed a 9% decline in FanDuel sportsbook handle and a $35 million Arkansas state-launch cost dragging US adjusted EBITDA down 26% to $119 million, with the company also reviewing a potential delisting from the London Stock Exchange by end-June 2026. Industry-commissioned research by H2 Gambling Capital, shared by the Betting and Gaming Council, places the UK black market at £16.6 billion in 2025, more than triple the 2019 figure, with WARC analysis projecting unlicensed operators will account for over half of UK gambling advertising spend by October 2027. The UK Gambling Commission has secured £26 million in Treasury funding over three years to address illegal markets and is recruiting a Head of Illegal Markets role, with acting Chief Executive Sarah Gardner committing the regulator to "first serious" action on land-based illegal gambling at the Bingo Association AGM on May 7. The Independent Football Regulator's Second Licensing Consultation closed on May 5 with Entain calling for a ban on Premier League sponsorship from operators without UK Gambling Commission licences.

What It Means

For UK retail betting workers, the May 24 closures begin a tangible job-loss programme that the broader industry and BGC have warned would follow the November 2025 Budget. For Evoke, the closures are the first irreversible element of a restructuring that may end in either a Bally's Intralot transaction or a break-up sale of Italy and Mr Green. For the UK regulated gambling industry, the closures are the most visible single signal yet that the 40% Remote Gaming Duty has reset the cost base in a way that compresses physical retail, accelerates online-first consolidation, and intensifies pressure on the perimeter where regulated operators compete with offshore platforms. For offshore operators serving UK users, the policy logic that has produced these closures — high regulated tax, narrowing licensed product economics, slower bonus and promotion intensity in the UK — is precisely the gap the UK black-market data shows is being filled. Both halves of that signal are now visible in the same quarter.

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