Bally's Intralot to Buy William Hill Owner Evoke for £243M

⏱ 3 min read

Bally's Intralot has agreed a £243.1 million all-share takeover of Evoke plc, the Gibraltar-based owner of William Hill, 888 and Mr Green, in a deal announced on June 5, 2026. The acquisition values Evoke at 52 pence per share — a 138% premium to its price before the company launched a strategic review in December 2025.

The combination creates a group with a total addressable market of €36 billion across six core markets, ranking second in UK iGaming and fourth in UK online sports betting. The deal is backed by roughly £889 million in refinancing commitments from TPG, Oaktree and OHA, and is expected to close in Q4 2026 or Q1 2027.

Deal terms and structure

Under the agreement, each Evoke shareholder receives 0.537 new Bally's Intralot shares per Evoke share. Based on Intralot's share price, that values the offer at 52 pence per Evoke share, or roughly £243.1 million in aggregate. Shareholders can instead opt for a capped cash alternative worth up to £117.1 million in total, funded via a €200 million bridge facility from Deutsche Bank and Jefferies Finance.

The transaction is structured as a scheme of arrangement under Part VIII of the Gibraltar Companies Act, and Evoke's board has unanimously recommended it to shareholders. If completed as proposed, Evoke shareholders would hold around 11.5% of the enlarged group.

• Offer represents a 77% premium to Evoke's three-month volume-weighted average price before the April 2026 bid disclosure.
• Offer represents a 138% premium to Evoke's share price on December 9, 2025, the day before its strategic review was announced.
• Bally's Intralot has secured up to £889 million in second-lien financing to refinance Evoke's existing debt maturing in 2028.

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Why Evoke sold now

Evoke launched its strategic review in December 2025 after the UK's Remote Gambling Duty rose from 21% to 40%, a change that took effect in April 2026. Evoke chairman Mark Summerfield said the tax shift and the company's existing capital structure made the Intralot offer the most deliverable path forward.

Evoke ended 2025 carrying net debt of approximately £1.86 billion, much of it from its 2022 purchase of William Hill's non-US assets. Bally's Intralot itself closed FY2025 with adjusted net debt of €1.49 billion, meaning the combined group carries a debt load some analysts describe as heavy relative to earnings.

Bally's Intralot first approached Evoke in January 2026 at 32 pence per share. Talks were confirmed publicly in April 2026, with the bid raised to the final 52 pence figure ahead of a regulatory deadline that had been extended to June 8, 2026.

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What the combined group looks like

The deal builds on the October 2025 combination of Bally's International Interactive and the lottery technology firm Intralot, which created Bally's Intralot as a listed entity on the Athens Stock Exchange. Adding Evoke brings together Intralot's lottery and iGaming technology with Evoke's sports betting brands, including hundreds of William Hill retail shops across the UK.

Management has identified £180 million in pre-tax cost and capital savings targeted within two years of completion. Bally's Intralot CEO Robeson Reeves indicated no current plans to divest major units, though he did not rule out future disposals if offers were compelling enough.

Metric	Evoke (standalone)	Combined group
Deal value	52p/share (£243.1m)	—
2025 revenue	$1.78bn	€3.165bn annualized
Net debt (FY2025)	£1.86bn	Combined >£3bn
Total addressable market	—	€36bn across 6 markets
UK iGaming rank	—	2nd
UK sports betting rank	—	4th

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Impact on the UK market

For UK bettors, the immediate operational picture for William Hill, 888 and Mr Green is unlikely to change before completion, expected in Q4 2026 or Q1 2027. Longer term, the combined group's stated ambition to rank second in UK iGaming signals continued consolidation in a market already reshaped by the duty increase.

• The deal follows a wave of UK gambling consolidation driven partly by the Remote Gambling Duty rise to 40%.
• Bally's Intralot described the UK as a "highly attractive geography" with significant consolidation opportunity.
• Analysts at Edison Group noted Intralot's marketing spend-to-net-gaming-revenue ratio is roughly 12 percentage points lower than Evoke's, pointing to potential margin gains.

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What happens next

The deal still requires shareholder votes and regulatory approvals across the jurisdictions in which Evoke and Bally's Intralot operate, including gambling licensing authorities. Completion is targeted for Q4 2026 through Q1 2027. Bettors and operators should watch for any divestment announcements — analysts have flagged Evoke's Italy and Mr Green businesses as possible candidates, though Reeves has signaled Italy is a "prized asset" Bally's Intralot would be reluctant to sell.

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Sources

This article draws on the joint company announcement, a related US securities filing, and independent industry coverage published between June 5–9, 2026.

Today marks the beginning of a major new chapter for our company with the submission of a binding offer for the acquisition of Evoke aimed at creating a very strong global player in the gaming industry.

— Sokratis Kokkalis, Chairman, Bally's Intralot Board of Directors · Joint deal announcement, June 5, 2026