‘Customer friendly’ football results contributed to a £17million hit to William Hill owner Evoke’s revenues in September, as punters beat the bookies.
Evoke, which also owns the 888 brand, told investors on Friday it had taken a £10million hit from sports bets just in the UK and Ireland, contributing to a 13 per cent decline in overall betting revenues in the region for the third quarter of the year.
But UK and Ireland online revenues still ticked 3 per cent higher thanks to a 12 per cent boost to gaming, which covers traditional casino gambling products like blackjack and poker.
William Hill said ‘customer friendly’ sports results, particularly in football, had cost revenues £17m in September – with a £10m hit from the UK and Ireland
Group revenues were up 4 per cent on a constant currency basis to £417million in the three months to 30 September, thanks to 10 per cent growth in gaming, and the group continues to expect second-half growth of 5 to 9 per cent year-on-year.
‘Good underlying trends… [were] partially offset by particularly customer-friendly sports results during September, which impacted group revenue by approximately £17milllion,’ Evoke said.
Evoke shares were up 3.8 per cent to 59.5p, having fallen 35 per cent this year after disappointing online revenues led to a profit warning in July.
It comes at a challenging time for Britain’s betting groups, whose growth momentum is facing potential stumbling blocks in the shape of potential domestic tax hikes, growing competition in key markets and regulatory pressure.
Earlier this week, rival Entain lifted profit guidance for the year after its UK business bounced back to growth more quickly than expected.
Evoke’s gains over the most recent quarter were helped by market share gains in core international markets of Italy, Spain, Denmark and Romania which saw revenues soar 26 per cent.
Total online revenue growth reached 8 per cent, making up a 9 per cent decline in its bricks-and-mortar retail operations.
Evoke said it had ‘identified and actioned a series of measures’ to improve retail trading in the short-term, including the rollout of over 5,000 new gaming machines from October.
Boss Per Widerström added: ‘We are achieving our plans to improve trading in the short-term, while simultaneously radically transforming the Group’s capabilities for the long-term.
‘We are moving decisively and at pace to position evoke for long-term growth, and I look forward to providing further updates about our progress in the coming months.’
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