Greek gambling company Bally’s Intralot has agreed to acquire British bookmaker evoke plc in an all-stock deal for 52 pence per share. That represents a 30% premium over Thursday’s closing price, bringing the total purchase price to approximately £243 million ($326 million).
Shares in evoke jumped 15% to 46p on Friday’s news.
The industry has known a sale of evoke was coming since late 2025, when the company warned investors that it would have to slash costs because upcoming UK gambling tax hikes would cost the company an estimated £135 million ($180 million) per year.
In late March, William Hill, acquired by evoke in 2022 from Caesars Entertainment for £2.2 billion ($2.9 nillion), announced that it was closing 200 UK betting shops in a belt-tightening effort.
According to NEXT.io, Bally’s CEO Robeson Reeves said that his company has no intention of selling any parts of evoke.
“We wanted the whole group,” Reeves said in call after the acquisition announcement. “We have no intention to sell any assets, as I’ve said a few times. I find that international assets are almost the most attractive, because it creates a diversification for our combined group, and really does give us pan-European presence.”
Reeves did say that if an attractive opportunity presents itself, it would consider selling evoke assets, but that’s not the plan. “We like the business that evoke has. We believe together we can be stronger and truly grow this business and have significant scale.”
evoke is the former online poker household name 888 Holdings, which changed its name two years ago after shareholders almost unanimously approved the new moniker. And yes, the name is all lowercase.
At the time, I questioned the move, as 888 was one of the most recognizable brands in online gambling. That name recognition, though, had almost completely disappeared in the US and the company was not just made up of 888 brands anymore, as it owned William Hill – a gigantic name in the UK – and Mr. Green.
888’s poker platform still powers WSOP Online, though that may change in the next couple of years. GGPoker bought the WSOP in 2024 and took over the operation of the Series last year. This is the final year of the WSOP’s software contract with 888. It is not a given that GGPoker will start powering WSOP Online immediately, as it still has regulatory hurdles to overcome. It has been planning a US entry for some time now and has achieved some approvals in some states, so it seems like a matter of “when” rather than “if” for WSOP Online’s future software platform.