UK gambling operator Evoke officially confirmed on Monday morning that it is in talks with Bally's Intralot about a full stock merger proposal, priced at 0.5 pounds per share (approximately 0.67 USD). According to the announcement, the plan is expected to primarily involve a full stock merger, with a partial cash alternative option, and the transaction deadline is May 18, 28 days after the announcement was made public. Evoke stated that it is evaluating this offer together with financial advisors Morgan Stanley and Rothschild & Co. Bally's Intralot emphasized that even if a formal offer is eventually made, it will come with standard conditions and approval requirements, and reserves the right to adjust the price, consideration form, and transaction structure. The market reacted quickly to this news—Evoke's share price closed at 0.38 pounds last Friday and jumped to 0.43 pounds at the opening this morning. Behind these negotiations is Evoke's strategic review initiated last December, which has been the subject of months of external speculation, although the company did not specify which business segments would be sold, but media reports in November last year suggested it was considering divesting its Italian business to offset the impact of a significant increase in UK gambling taxes.
Under the pressure of tax reform, shrinking front lines: The doubling of remote gambling tax becomes the catalyst
The core variable driving Evoke to the negotiating table is the significant increase in remote gambling tax announced by the UK government in the Autumn budget last November. Starting this month, the remote gambling tax has jumped from 21% to 40%, and the remote betting tax will also be adjusted upwards next April. Evoke has a large exposure in the UK online market, and the impact of the tax reform is particularly significant. In January this year, Deutsche Bank downgraded Evoke's stock rating to hold, and research analyst Richard Huber pointed out in the report that the UK budget had a disproportionate impact on Evoke. To reflect the upcoming tax burden, Deutsche Bank has lowered its EBITDA forecasts for Evoke for fiscal years 2026 and 2027 by 12% and 18%, respectively.
Along with the remote gambling tax, Evoke's plan to slim down its offline retail network is also taking effect. The company announced that it will close 200 William Hill betting shops in the UK from May, a move that echoes the store contraction of Entain and Flutter in the UK and Ireland markets. Industry insiders had previously speculated about the possible direction of Evoke's strategic review, with some views suggesting that private equity acquisitions might provide a way for operators to reduce debt burdens. Ben Robinson of Corfai Capital said in an interview in February that beyond the disposal of retail assets, the real opportunity lies in structural cost reductions rather than short-term cuts—operational integration, automation, AI-driven efficiency improvements, and selective outsourcing can achieve a sustainable 10% cost saving without compromising growth.
How substantial is the 0.5 pound offer? The market awaits the deadline of May 18
The offer of 0.5 pounds per share represents a premium of about 31% over Evoke's closing price of 0.38 pounds last Friday, but in a longer time frame, this price is still far below the company's historical valuation center. Evoke's choice to hire both Morgan Stanley and Rothschild as top-tier financial advisors indicates that the management is very cautious in evaluating the offer—aiming to maximize shareholder benefits while clearly recognizing that the space for independent operation is narrowing under the pressures of tax reform, retail contraction, and debt burden.
Bally's Intralot reserves the right to adjust terms in the announcement, meaning that 0.5 pounds is not a final fixed price, and variables such as transaction structure, cash proportion, and approval conditions may still be renegotiated in subsequent talks. The deadline of May 18 leaves less than a month for both parties to negotiate, and the market's next focus will be on whether Evoke will disclose more details about the disposal of its Italian business, whether Bally's Intralot will adjust the offer structure, and how the further increase in UK remote betting tax next year will affect the final pricing of the transaction.
PASA official website continues to track global gambling operator mergers and acquisitions dynamics, noting that the negotiations between Evoke and Bally's Intralot are a landmark case in the industry restructuring wave triggered by UK gambling tax reforms. When the tax burden doubles from 21% to 40%, operators' profit margins are systematically compressed, and merging to achieve scale effects, share compliance costs, and optimize asset structures is becoming a collective choice for leading companies. Regardless of how this transaction ultimately materializes, it will set an important footnote for the next phase of competition in the UK gambling market.
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This article is from "PASA-Global iGaming Leaders," a gambling industry news channel: https://t.me/pasa_news
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