Evoke Agrees to £243 Million Acquisition by Bally's Intralot

Evoke, a British bookmaker and the owner of William Hill UK and 888, has agreed to a deal for Greek lottery and gaming firm Bally's Intralot to acquire them on Friday, according to The Wall Street Journal and Reuters. 

The deal is for £243 million ($326 million). As a result of this deal, London-listed shares in Evoke were up 13% at 45 pence in Friday morning trading. 

The Journal is reporting that Evoke said the offer os 52 pence a share is a 138% premium over its price "before the bid was made public." 

The Evoke board said the deal would immediately deliver maximum value to shareholders. 

Evoke Faced Mounting Financial Pressures

Also, Evoke admitted it had been dealing with "operational hurdles" in its "core U.K. market." One of the key changes that affected them was an increase in online gaming taxes, which "dealt a severe blow" to online profit margins. 

With the acquisition of Williams Hill UK, Evoke has about 1.86 billion pounds of debt, and it now "lacks the standalone financial flexibility to fight rising interest costs, tax duties and debt obligations at the same time," per the Journal. 

Reuters is reporting that other terms of the deal include "an ​all-share ⁠structure and a partial cash alternative capped at about £117 million."

Bally's Continues Expanding Its Gaming Portfolio

The parent company of Bally's Intralot is Bally's Corp., which is based in Rhode Island. Bally's is also in the middle of building a $1.7 billion Chicago casino, has plans to build one on the Las Vegas Strip next to where the Athletics plan to play, and has landed one of three downstate New York casino licenses.