William Hill To Break Up Chunk Of Retail Empire; Staff Told On Call

William Hill has announced it is going ahead with closing 200 of its UK betting shops on May 24. Reports emerged that employees were informed via a company-wide call yesterday morning that the management would be going ahead with shutting down some of William Hill’s retail estate.

The Evoke-owned betting giant has 1,300 land-based venues on its books, and it is believed that up to 1,500 jobs are now at risk. And the November budget appears to be the driving factor behind the decision.

Retail empire disintegrating

Faced by a challenging gambling landscape, William Hill has been forced to take swift action. Over the past few months, Evoke has been carrying out a strategic review of its assets, and Evoke brought on banking giants Morgan Stanley and Rothschild to discuss the direction the company should take.

A decision to shut down a chunk of its retail estate has been mooted for some time, and it didn’t necessarily come as a surprise. And now the news has been made official.

An Evoke spokesperson said:

“Following a thorough review and further to increased cost pressures on the regulated sector, including significant taxes announced by the government in last year’s Autumn Budget, from May, we are closing a number of shops that are no longer sustainable.

“We are offering our full support to our retail colleagues who are affected by these closures. These decisions are never taken lightly; however, in the face of rising cost pressures, we must take action to ensure we can continue to invest in our core retail estate, with the right shops in the right locations.”

Budget takes its toll

Evidently, the fiscal measures announced by the Chancellor Rachel Reeves in the Budget have increased the hardships faced by some operators. Remote Gaming Duty (RGD) on online casino gambling has surged from 21% to 40%, and from next year, the general betting duty levied on digital sports wagers will jump from 15% to 25%.

More intriguingly, Evoke revealed last month that it would delay releasing its Financial Year (FY25) results, suggesting things were afoot. The company CEO, Per Widerstrom, failed to shy away from shop closures, however, he was adamant that the company could absorb the impact of shutting down brick-and-mortar establishments.

He said:

“The group currently expects to be able to mitigate approximately 50% of the impact from higher duties over the medium-term through supplier savings, reduced marketing, retail store closures, and potential changes to the customer proposition.

“As one of the leading and largest operators in the UK market, the group is better positioned than many to navigate this increase and, over time, potentially stands to benefit from further consolidation of market share with the likely exit of smaller operators due to the rising costs.”

Rounding off a bad month for William Hill

Closing down shops will naturally carry some scar tissue, and the announcement wrapped up a grim March for the operator. Indeed, William Hill recently requested players to return withdrawals after a malfunction with its Jackpot Drop promotion caused accidental payouts to be made, totalling millions of pounds.

As far as betting shop closures more generally are concerned, figures released by the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) indicated a 30% drop-off in betting shop numbers from 2019 to 2025, resulting in more than 10,000 job losses.

In the meantime, Betting.co.uk reached out to Evoke for further comment.