Member Info for vaga

T212 will message you nearer the time, but likely you can either sell at 52p or they will convert to Ballys (which you cannot buy or sell), but you'll be able to transfer to another broker at will.

They have until 18th May to make a firm offer. They're presumably starting low. Not sure if other bidders might come in at the stage or not.

Full company buyout is unlikely to be below 90p imo - and probably more likely to be over 100p. They'll be selling off Italy otherwise, and just continuing.

Something positive has happened behind the scenes.

With stagflation almost guaranteed now it's actually quite an attractive proposition because the debt is getting inflated away, and slow economies will prevent high rates. It's also not really affected by high energy prices.

Guessing the bids probably close today, so we'll hear something soon.

I think we'll see multiple bidders from US PE as it's exposure to non USD markets.

Ultimately the issue for evoke is borrowing costs. A buyer would not even need to pay down any debt - they just need to essentially be collateral for the debt, then borrowing costs would fall substantially

IMO the minimum sale price would be at least 80p. Anything less than that and they'd be better selling off Italy and/or retail to sure up finances, and continuing as they are.

This could end up being a shrewd buy for someone. Argentina have just banned Polymarket for being an 'unregulated gambling platform', and others are likely to follow suit.

The black market for gambling sites has also grown massively - especially UK and Germany - driven by illegal sports streaming sites, so a crackdown at some point is surely inevitable as governments are losing a lot of revenue as a result, and that will benefit regulated operators. It's also a business that isn't affected much by rising oil prices as there is no physical product.

I'll be amazed if the likes of Apollo and others don't put a bid in here. It's going to be an interesting month ahead!

Apollo were up against 888 when WH UK was sold off in 2021, so maybe they might be interested? They were willing to pay a lot back then.

Never gets mentioned, but Polymarket could go after it to get a UK betting license?

Or this could be really to pressure the lunatics in this government into realising that if you tax companies out of business, then you get no tax revenue at all!! A backtrack, or watering down the rises is surely an option.

Wonder who owns most of the debt? Maybe some sort of debt restructuring might be possible? Lenders might take a haircut rather than lose everything.

Wow, they need to come out and say something to reassure the markets and steady this!!

There's also a wildcard of the huge tax hikes being scaled back if the industry pressure the government enough.

And what if Reeves is forced to quit after the budget black hole lies? Potentially roll back for some of the tax raids?

Either of these things would see the share rebound strongly.

They still have some things of value. They've got the Retail estate which is probably still worth £250m+ and it makes a profit. They also have a UK gambling licence so that could make it a potential target for maybe Polymarket or somebody like that.

They also have a footprint in emerging markets like Romania, and they are still running 2 platforms side by side, so there's big savings when they finally move onto one.

Rates being slashed as Labour destroy the economy could help too if they were able to fix a load of debt at low rates.

It's not a total write off yet, I just bought some more!

UK economy completely crashing, and interest rates being slashed would obviously help this share as it would reduce interest costs significantly.

Per is in big on this one, and I think his average price is around 90p, so he'll be hell bent on getting this into calmer waters, and getting probably at least £1 per share for a sale.

There are still some savings in the pipeline. AFAIK they've still not migrated William Hill to the new platform - only 888 and Mr Green. Once that is complete then there's a lot of duplication that can be cut out, a lot of savings on infrastructure, and a lot of jobs that can go.

There could be the possibility that the government yields to the pressure and waters down these changes to prevent a wave of shop closures and job cuts. Not sure how likely that is, but Labour are the U-turn specialists!

Well 18th December is the next BOE meeting, and we'll probably see rates cut to 3.75% which might give debt ridden evoke a slight lift.

The benefits bonanza in the budget could also help as with 1 in 5 of the workforce on benefits that may boost gambling as these people have time on their hands, and plenty of money to spend.

I'm quite shocked it's fallen this hard though. I thought the worst case was already priced in.

Evoke must have planned for this as a possiblity, so I expect we'll see them put the plan into action and make an announcement in a few weeks.

Likely shop closures, layoffs, maybe office closures and maybe relocate the HQ to Malta like flutter have done. That might shore up the share price a bit, but with this government the threat of even more tax raids is always there.

Https://www.yogonet.com/international/news/2025/11/20/116411-flutter-relocates-skybet-39s-hq-to-malta-in-bid-to-save-millions-in-taxes

Disaster!! I can see a wave of shop closures and evoke doing what flutter have done, and close all UK offices and move everything to Malta. This government is something else. The UK economy will be in ruins by the end of their term.

They almost sold the retail estate to Boylesports a few years back which could've reduced the debt pile by £300m. Boylesports previously bought 35 William Hill shops in 2020. Not likely to happen now though under this government as overheads for physical stores are soaring with the NI tax raid, ramped up minimum wage and this crazy employment rights act on the way.

The only positives are the overseas elements like Romania doing well, and potential for emergency rate cuts next year as the economy collapses, which will reduce debt interest.

This share just reflects the UK as a whole - total collapse!!

The UK needs to follow Belgium's lead where from 2026 there's a 2 year limit on unemployment benefits and long term sick will require a severe illness to be able to claim. They're ending the benefits culture, and have said "everyone must work".

Until the UK adopts a similar approach we will see the economy completely destroyed by Labour to fund an unsustainable welfare state.

I bet Per wishes he'd avoided this one!..