Bally’s Intralot’s acquisition of William Hill and 888 parent company evoke is well on track after the Greek-American company’s shareholders overwhelmingly supported the move.
The Athens-listed company held its annual general meeting on 17 September, where the plan to purchase evoke for 52p per share, valuing the William HIll owner at £243.1m, was a key topic.
A grand total of 99.585% of Bally’s Intralot shareholders approved the takeover, with just 0.415% voting against. This broadly corresponds with the results of evoke’s own AGM, published 17 August, with 99.63% voting in favour.
Bally’s Intralot’s evoke takeover on schedule
Approval by the shareholders of both firms means that the takeover now just needs to clear a few more regulatory approvals before it can go ahead. This puts Bally’s Intralot leadership well on track to acquire LSE-listed evoke by either Q4 2026 or Q1 2027.
One of the most important regulatory approvals necessary, the court sanction hearing where a judge will give the final green light for the duo’s agreement scheme, is scheduled to take place in either Q4 2026 or Q1 2027, depending on the timeline of other approvals.
Once the takeover is completed, evoke will delist from the London Stock Exchange. The company was once a component of the FTSE 250 index before being downgraded in late 2023, back when it traded as 888 holdings prior to the 2024 rebrand as evoke.
At present, it finds itself listed on the FTSE SmallCap and FTSE All-Share indices.
The company told investors that it had begun searching for a buyer in December 2025, when it initiated a strategic review of its business after the UK government announced increases in online gambling taxes. The first tax increase – a rise in Remote Gaming Duty from 21% to 40% -came into effect on 1 April this year.
Evoke expected the taxes to have a huge impact on its bottom lines, and has accelerated the closure of William Hill retail outlets this year with the confirmation that 200 more shops would shut their doors back in March.
With Bally’s Intralot no stranger to the UK market and no stranger to pulling off high-profile acquisitions – the firm came to being via the 2025 merger of Bally’s Corporation and Intralot after the latter acquired the former’s Bally’s International Interactive – evoke and its brands are hopeful that this is the right move at a difficult time for the British betting sector.
A big talking point around the takeover has been the amount of debt both firms carry, with evoke reporting £1.89bn in H1 2026 while Bally’s Intralot declared over €1.6bn (£1bn) in net debt for the same period.
Bally’s Corporation, the 58% majority shareholder of Bally’s Intralot, also finds itself riddled with debt and there are concerns over whether that particular company can continue as a going concern.
Bally’s Intralot leadership under Chief Executive Officer, Robeson Reeves, has previously expressed confidence that the debt will not hinder the post-merger group’s strategy or ambitions, however.
