𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

The company behind William Hill and 888 has said less cash spent on bets this year and stricter gambling rules helped drag on its sales in the UK.

Evoke said its gaming division had strengthened but sports betting had “lagged” over the first half of 2025.

In the UK and Ireland, its biggest market, it made £588.4 million in revenues, 1.4% lower than the same period last year.

A decrease in sports revenues was partly driven by lower stakes – meaning the money punters place on a bet – than last year when the men’s football Euro 2024 tournament happened.

The company also said safer gambling measures, introduced last year to increase consumer protections, were partly behind the decline in online betting.

However, its overall sales, which includes its international operations, increased by 3% year-on-year to £887.8 million.

Evoke said this was driven by surging sales in Italy, Denmark and Romania.

Meanwhile, the company said it had rolled out 5,000 new gaming machines across its betting shops to help boost the retail division.

It also highlighted efforts to reduce costs across the business, including by using automation and artificial intelligence for elements like player safety and fraud detection.

It comes amid greater cost pressures including from national insurance contributions and the national minimum wage, which both increased in April, and tax changes in Romania.

Evoke reported a pre-tax loss of £64.7 million for the first half – narrower than the £143.2 million loss made last year.

On an adjusted basis, which strips out the impact of what it deems one-off costs, it returned to a profit of £5.4 million, from a £29.9 million loss the prior year.

Shares in the business jumped by about 6% on Wednesday morning.