Evoke, the owner of William Hill and 888, has announced the closure of 270 high street betting shops across the UK. The move comes as the company faces mounting losses and rising taxes, with pre-tax losses more than doubling to £549.1 million in 2025, up from £220.9 million in 2024.
The closures are part of a strategic review initiated after Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced tax hikes on online gambling in the autumn budget. From April 2026, remote gaming duty will increase from 21% to 40%, and a new 25% online sports betting duty will be introduced from 2027.
Evoke is also in talks for a potential £225.3 million takeover by Greek lottery and gaming firm Bally's Intralot. The company has identified the sites to be closed but has not yet disclosed them publicly. William Hill currently operates around 1,300 stores in the UK.
The closures are expected to result in hundreds of redundancies, though Evoke has not confirmed exact numbers. Chief executive Per Widerstrom said the duty increases represented a 'fundamental shift' in the economics of the UK market and that the company has acted decisively to mitigate the impact.
This follows earlier warnings in January that shops would close to offset an anticipated rise in duty costs of up to £135 million per year from 2027. The news comes amid a broader trend of high street closures, including Beefeater and Brewers Fayre restaurants, which are set to shut down with nearly 4,000 job losses.
