Bally’s Intralot Evoke Takeover Clears Shareholder Votes

Bally’s Intralot‘s planned acquisition of William Hill and 888 parent company evoke has cleared a major hurdle after shareholders at both companies overwhelmingly backed the deal. The Athens-listed group held its annual general meeting on September 17, where the proposal to buy evoke at 52p per share — valuing the operator at £243.1 million — was the central item on the agenda.

Bally’s Intralot shareholders approved the takeover by a margin of 99.585% to 0.415%, closely mirroring the result from Evoke‘s own AGM held on August 17, where 99.63% of shareholders voted in favor.

With shareholder approval secured on both sides, the deal now needs to clear a handful of remaining regulatory approvals before it can complete. That puts Bally’s Intralot on track to acquire the London Stock Exchange-listed evoke by either the fourth quarter of 2026 or the first quarter of 2027. One of the most significant remaining steps is a court sanction hearing, where a judge will give final approval to the companies’ agreed takeover scheme; that hearing is expected to take place in the same Q4 2026-to-Q1 2027 window, depending on how other approvals progress.

Once complete, evoke will delist from the London Stock Exchange. The company was once part of the FTSE 250 before being downgraded in late 2023, when it still traded as 888 Holdings ahead of its 2024 rebrand to evoke. It currently sits on the FTSE SmallCap and FTSE All-Share indices.

Evoke told investors it began searching for a buyer in December 2025, launching a strategic review after the UK government announced increases to online gambling taxes. The first of those tax changes — a rise in Remote Gaming Duty from 21% to 40% — took effect on April 1 this year. Evoke expected the change to significantly hit its bottom line and has since accelerated the closure of William Hill retail shops, confirming in March that 200 more locations would close.

Bally’s Intralot is no stranger to either the UK market or large-scale acquisitions; the company itself was formed through the 2025 merger of Bally’s Corporation and Intralot, after the latter acquired the former’s Bally’s International Interactive division. For evoke and its brands, the deal is seen as the right move at a difficult moment for the British betting sector.

Debt remains a notable factor in the transaction. Evoke reported £1.89 billion in debt for the first half of 2026, while Bally’s Intralot declared net debt of more than €1.6 billion (roughly £1 billion) over the same period. Bally’s Corporation, which holds a 58% majority stake in Bally’s Intralot, is itself carrying significant debt, with some concerns raised about the parent company’s ability to continue as a going concern. Bally’s Intralot chief executive Robeson Reeves has nonetheless expressed confidence that the debt load will not derail the merged group’s strategy or ambitions.