Last week, Evoke reported its “first quarter of year-to-year growth since Q1 2022”, marking the gambling group’s first period of sustained growth since its £2bn acquisition of William Hill.
On the latest episode of iGaming Daily, supported by Optimove, Ted Menmuir, SBC’s Content Director, was joined by the Editor of CasinoBeats, Joe Streeter, to dig deeper into Evoke’s turnaround in Q3.
On the results, Joe said: “They generated group revenues of $417m, up 3% on the 2023 comparative figures. This led to year-to-date revenue standing at $1.27bn. They have maintained expectations for a strong second half of 2024 to be in line with midterm targets of 5%-9% of year-over-year growth.
“There’s a real focus on being impactful when it comes to player bonuses and CRM and they’re just generally seeking to evolve the way they engage players and I do believe that has paid off. Positivity for the group was largely fuelled by success in their core markets, namely Italy, Spain, Denmark and Romania.”
Despite a positive outlook in the markets mentioned, Evoke’s overall growth was weighed down by clear disparities in the UK, as online casino growth was hampered by declining sports betting results and continued retail declines.
The “elephant in the room” for Evoke’s UK struggles is its acquisition of William Hill, and Joe explained that it is focusing on a “product uplift” at the beginning of 2025 in an attempt to turn around its UK fortunes. This encompasses new gaming machines for its retail stores and also an improvement of the William Hill app.
UK operators have also been dealing with changing regulations in the sector and Ted added that the challenge for Evoke is whether its brands can “supersede their competitors” as the sector adjusts to the “three or four quarters of regulatory alignment”.
Also on the horizon for UK gambling is the Labour government’s budget, with numerous reports suggesting that gambling could be hit by a tax rise which has the potential to “strangle any value creation for Evoke and other brands”.
On the prospects of an autumn tax hike, Joe said: “[Evoke is exposed] a worrying amount just because of that William Hill brand. The retail presence is strong and they can thrive in the growth in other core markets but it can continue to be diluted by the UK market if value creation is strangled by the budget.”
Although there is fear throughout the industry, Joe added that he believes that in regards to business, the Labour government will not “strangle the industry as much as is being reported”.
