Evoke has reported that its group revenue fell by 7% year-on-year to £406m in Q3, following the closure of 270 retail shops and “particularly customer-friendly sports results” at the start of the football season.

The betting and gambling firm, which owns brands including William Hill, 888 and Mr Green, said that these results, which cover the three months to 30 September, were an approximately one to two percentage point headwind to year-on-year revenue growth on a group basis.

This meant that revenue was broadly stable on a normalised basis.

Evoke added that its acquisition by the US gambling firm, Bally’s Intralot, remains on track, with both sets of shareholders having passed the required resolutions at shareholder meetings, with the majority of the required regulatory approvals having now been received.

As a result, completion is set to take place late in the fourth quarter, or early in the first quarter of 2027.

Following the update, shares in Evoke remained relatively unchanged, increasing by 0.36%.

Evoke CEO, Per Widerström, concluded: "On an underlying basis the business continues to show resilience and reflects our continued emphasis on profitability and cash generation following the substantial increases in gaming duties, particularly in the UK.

"The closure of 270 shops over the past year shows the real impact on jobs and livelihoods from higher industry taxation, and we urge the UK Government to carefully consider any further increases ahead of its forthcoming Autumn Budget.

"We remain focused on disciplined execution and operational efficiency as we progress towards completion of the acquisition, which continues to progress as planned towards completing in late Q4 2026 or early Q1 2027."

---