Bally’s agrees to a takeover of Evoke worth about £243 million

Bally’s Corporation, through its Intralot-backed vehicle, agreed in June 2026 to acquire British gambling group Evoke for roughly £243 million (around $326 million), one of the largest distressed mergers in the sector that year. Evoke owns two historic UK gambling brands, William Hill and 888, both of which had faced heavy exposure to rising UK gambling taxes in the run-up to the deal.

Industry analysts framed the acquisition as part of a wider consolidation wave among gambling operators facing tougher taxation and compliance costs across multiple markets, with combined groups better positioned to spread the expense of licensing, geolocation, anti-money-laundering monitoring and regulatory reporting across a larger revenue base. The deal was expected to bring around £180 million in projected cost savings, though reports at the time suggested some of those projected savings would likely come from job cuts across William Hill’s retail betting shop network in the UK.