William Hill owner says it could shut shops if Reeves raises gambling taxes

The debt-laden company behind William Hill is considering closing up to 200 betting shops if Rachel Reeves’s autumn budget raises taxes on the gambling sector. Evoke, formerly known as 888, which acquired William Hill in a £2bn takeover in 2022, is drawing up plans for different scenarios before expected gambling tax increases in the chancellor’s budget on 26 November. Evoke is considering shutting a number of outlets, in news first reported by the Sunday Times, which said closures could range from 120 shops to closer to 200. This would amount to between 9% and 15% of William Hill’s chain of 1,300 betting shops, with up to 1,500 jobs potentially affected. Between five and 10 people typically work in a betting shop. Evoke, which also owns the 888 and Mr Green brands, has 10,000 staff in total. The FTSE 250 company is struggling under a debt pile of £1.8bn after its largely debt-funded acquisition of William Hill, and made a pre-tax loss of nearly £78m in the first half of the year. A spokesperson for Evoke said: “We are mindful of potential tax increases in the forthcoming budget which would impact investment in the UK and drive more customers to the black market. “As part of our ongoing planning, we are assessing the potential impact of different overall tax scenarios on our UK operations. This includes the difficult but necessary consideration for shop closures.” The company stressed that no decision had been taken yet. It is the second big gambling company to warn of the impact of tax rises within a week. Stella David, the chief executive of Entain, the FTSE 100 owner of Ladbrokes and Coral, also said higher gambling taxes could lead to shop closures and investment being diverted to other countries. The government has been consulting on gambling taxation, and wants to simplify the various rates of duty applied to gambling products – a move the sector fears would raise its overall tax bill. A Treasury spokesperson said: “We are consulting on bringing online betting in line with other forms of online gambling to cut down bureaucracy. It is not about increasing or decreasing tax rates, and we welcome all views.” The former chancellor and prime minister Gordon Brown waded into the debate in August, noting that excluding the lottery, the betting and gaming industry was worth £11.5bn last year but incurred only £2.5bn in tax. “As much as £3bn extra can be raised from taxing it properly,” he said. The Institute for Public Policy Research has calculated that changes to gambling taxes could generate £3.2bn and lift 500,000 children out of poverty. Gambling lobbyists staged a summer charm offensive to push back against tax rises, including meeting with Treasury insiders and hosting a darts evening with Labour special advisers and MPs’ staff, the Guardian revealed in July.