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The owner of William Hill has drawn up contingency plans to seek a buyer for its market-leading Italian operation to fortify its balance sheet as it braces itself for a swingeing gambling tax raid in this week’s budget.
Sky News has learnt that Evoke has appointed bankers at Morgan Stanley to assess options for selling its Italian arm in a move that would raise hundreds of millions of pounds for the company.
Industry sources said on Tuesday, the eve of Rachel Reeves’s budget, that the plans would only be activated if the chancellor hammered the gaming sector in her statement this week.
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An auction would be likely to generate significant interest from other industry players across Europe.
Reports in recent weeks have speculated that gambling taxes will be hiked far enough to generate an additional £1bn-£3bn in revenue for the exchequer.
Along with rivals such as Betfred, Paddy Power-owner Flutter Entertainment and Ladbrokes’ parent, Entain, Evoke has already responded to the growing tax threat by drawing up plans to close significant numbers of UK betting shops.
Evoke’s Italian business is one of four core markets within its international division, which is an online-only operation.
The other key countries in which it trades are Spain, Denmark and Romania.
In its half-year financial results, Evoke said the international unit now accounted for just under a third of total revenue and roughly half of group earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA).
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