Evoke reported a 5% year-on-year increase in group revenue during Q3 following a return to growth across both its UK-facing online and retail operations, although it was its international segment that again saw the largest rise.
Group revenue for the three months to 30 September reached £435.4 million ($580.7 million), Evoke said in a trading update on Tuesday. This surpassed the £416.6 million posted in Q3 last year.
The group noted that it was the fifth consecutive quarter of year-on-year growth for the business, with revenue increases across all three of its core operating divisions. In contrast, only international revenue grew during the first six months of the year.
“During Q3 we continued to execute against our strategy which is transforming our long-term competitive capabilities and building a more efficient and profitable business,” Evoke CEO Per Widerström said.
Evoke back in black in the UK
Its UK and Ireland online business remained the primary source of revenue during the quarter, generating £163.3 million in Q3. Revenue was up 1% on the previous year.
UK online revenue was driven by higher betting revenue, which increased by 8% year-on-year to £50.7 million, helped by weaker prior-year win margins. Meanwhile gaming reported a 2% decline in revenue to £112.6 million.
Evoke said 888’s performance “continued to be a drag on growth” as it reduced marketing spend while targeting higher marketing returns.
UK retail revenue was also up 6% year-on-year to £121.7 million. Growth was consistent across betting and gaming.
The operator said retail sports betting growth was helped by weaker prior year win margins. Meanwhile, gaming revenue continued to increase during Q3 following the rollout of new gaming cabinets earlier in 2025.
“With retail continuing the improving trend from Q2, all three divisions were in growth during the quarter,” Widerström said. “Whilst our refined approach to UK online marketing to drive improved profitability slightly held back our top-line performance, we are pleased to have recorded our fifth consecutive quarter of profitable growth.”
International love for Evoke
However, as was the case in H1, the international segment experienced the most growth across the group, with revenue up 8% to £150.4 million. Growth was offset by a 26% drop in betting revenue.
Gaming revenue jumped 13% to £137 million, accounting for 91% of total revenue for the international segment.
Digging into the international business’ numbers, Evoke noted double-digit growth in Italy, Denmark and Romania. In Denmark, it completed migration to the in-house platform and subsequent product upgrades,, while it made further gains in Italy, helped by a focus on localised product features on 888.
As for Romania, Evoke completed the migration of 888 Romania onto the localised Winner.ro platform. While there was an initial slowdown in 888 experienced during the migration, the group said the platform is “unlocking significant product improvements and localisation” for customers.
While these developments were positive for the international business, there were some declines. Evoke referenced a slowdown in Spain and non-core markets, with these preventing further growth for the segment.
Evoke reiterates 5-9% annual growth target
In terms of Evoke’s performance in the year-to-date, group revenue for the first nine months of 2025 hit £1.32 billion. This was 3% more than the £1.28 billion reported at the same point in 2024.
UK and Ireland online revenue for the period remained flat at £499.5 million, with UK retail revenue also holding steady at £373.9 million. However, following the same trend seen in recent quarter, it was the international business that drove growth, with revenue up 11% to £449.9 million.
Looking to the remainder of 2025 and full-year expectations, Evoke reiterated its guidance of posting an adjusted EBITDA margin of at least 20%. This, it said, gave it confidence to report adjusted EBITDA “ahead of current market expectations”.
Further ahead, Evoke also reiterated certain medium-term financial targets. These included between 5% and 9% annual revenue growth and approximately 1% of adjusted EBITDA margin expansion per year by the end of 2027.
“We have clear plans in place to support an improvement in revenue during Q4 through continued acceleration in product enhancements, including retail sports and our recently launched new William Hill Vegas app,” Widerström said. “We are also making ongoing improvements to our customer lifecycle management capabilities.
“Alongside this, the improvements we have made to the operating model and efficiencies in our cost base mean we remain confident of achieving our implied adjusted EBITDA guidance, which would outperform market expectations.
“We continue to execute our turnaround with vigour and are making good progress against our plans to position evoke for long-term success and significant value creation.”
No further comment on UK tax changes
While the trading update offered some insight into the latest goings-on at Evoke, there was no reference to one of the main issues engulfing the UK market at present: a mooted rise in gambling tax.
The government is expected to set out new gambling tax plans during the upcoming budget on 26 November. Reports suggest several approaches are being considered, with all seeing some sort of increase.
Earlier in October, a Sunday Times report said Evoke is considering closing up to 15% of its William Hill shops across the UK in response to the proposed tax hike. Several sources at Evoke were said to have confirmed closures could take place if taxes rise.
One source said 120 shops could shut, while another suggested as many as 200 could close. This could lead to up to 1,500 job losses across the William Hill network.
“As part of our ongoing planning, we are assessing the potential impact of different overall tax scenarios on our UK operations,” an Evoke spokesperson said at the time. “This includes the difficult but necessary consideration for shop closures.”
Another recent development out of Evoke was confirmation of Mark Summerfield as its new non-executive chairman. He replaced Lord Jonathan Mendelsohn, who stepped down mid-way through October.
Lord Mendelsohn joined Evoke’s board in September 2020 and was appointed non-executive chair in March 2021. He also had a spell as interim executive chair from January to October of 2023.
Evoke reiterated its short-term plans to grow group revenue by 5%-9% every year to 2027.