UK bookmaker Evoke has today agreed to be acquired by Greek lottery and gaming firm Bally’s Intralot in an all-share deal valuing it at about \u00a3243m and sending its shares up 14%.<\/p>\n
Intralot’s offer values the William Hill and 888 casino owner at 52 pence per share, a 33.8% premium to the stock’s closing price before Evoke confirmed discussions with the Greek lottery and gaming firm.<\/p>\n
Shares in the company, whose board unanimously backed the deal, rose as much as 14% to 45.8 pence in early trade to levels last seen in October 2025.<\/p>\n
The debt-laden London-listed company launched a strategic review in December after warning that UK tax hikes on gambling in November would lead to mounting costs as it withdrew its medium-term targets.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, it announced plans to shut around 200 betting shops across the UK.<\/p>\n
Previously known as 888 Holdings, Evoke’s \u00a32.2-billion acquisition of William Hill UK from Caesars Entertainment in 2022 saddled it with high debt that stood at about \u00a31.86 billion at the end of last year.<\/p>\n
Additional terms include an all-share structure and a partial cash alternative capped at about \u00a3117m.<\/p>\n
Private lenders led by TPG Credit, alongside Oaktree and OHA, have committed about \u00a3889m to refinance Evoke’s existing debt and support the deal.<\/p>\n
“The combination will create one of the world’s leading online betting and gaming groups with superior scale, exceptional brands, increased diversification, and a platform for strong growth through enhanced capabilities,”
Mark Summerfield, chairman of Evoke, said.<\/p>\n
“I’m confident Intralot will be a strong and supportive owner of the business, and together with the more sustainable capital structure, the combination offers the best route to deliver long-term value for our shareholders and broader stakeholders,” he added.<\/p>\n
Bally’s Intralot in the technology supplier of Premier Lotteries, the operator of the Lotto in Ireland.<\/p>\n
Additional reporting by PA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UK bookmaker Evoke has today agreed to be acquired by Greek lottery and gaming firm Bally’s Intralot in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":484833,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,61,60],"class_list":["post-484832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=484832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/484833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}