William Hill owner takes £10m hit over UK punters’ football bets

“Customer-friendly” football results contributed to a £17m hit to William Hill owner Evoke’s revenue in September as punters beat bookmakers.

Evoke, which also owns the 888 brand, told investors on Friday it had taken a £10 million hit on sports betting in the UK and Ireland alone, contributing to a 13 per cent decline in general betting income in the region during the third quarter of the year. year.

But UK and Ireland online revenues still rose 3 per cent thanks to a 12 per cent increase in gaming, which covers traditional casino gaming products such as blackjack and poker.

The group’s revenue rose 4 per cent in constant currency to £417 million in the three months to September 30, thanks to 10 per cent growth in gaming, and the group continues to expect growth in the second semester from 5 to 9 percent annually. year after year.

“The underlying good trends… (were) partially offset by particularly customer-friendly sporting results during September, which impacted group revenue by approximately £17m,” Evoke said.

Evoke actions rose 3.8 per cent to 59.5 pence, having fallen 35 per cent this year after disappointing online revenues prompted a profit warning in July.

It comes at a challenging time for British betting groups, whose growth drive faces potential headwinds in the form of potential domestic tax increases, growing competition in key markets and regulatory pressures.

Earlier this week, rival Entain raised its profit forecasts for the year after its UK business recovered and grew faster than expected.

Evoke’s earnings during the most recent quarter were helped by market share gains in the major international markets of Italy, Spain, Denmark and Romania, where revenue soared 26 percent.

Total online revenue growth reached 8 percent, representing a 9 percent decline in its physical retail operations.

Evoke said it had “identified and put in place a number of measures” to improve retail trading in the short term, including the launch of more than 5,000 new gaming machines from October.

Boss Per Widerström added: ‘We are achieving our plans to improve trade in the short term, while radically transforming the Group’s capabilities for the long term.

“We are moving aggressively and at pace to position ourselves for long-term growth, and I look forward to providing further updates on our progress in the coming months.”