William Hill closes more than 270 UK betting shops in a year
Key Points
- Betting company William Hill held 1,024 shops at the end of June 2026, down from 1,302 a year earlier.
- The 278 shuttered shops is the equivalent of 21.4% of the group's entire estate.
- The cuts follow the government's decision in November 2025 to raise gambling duties, with higher remote gaming duty taking effect from 1 April 2026.
Betting company William Hill held 1,024 shops at the end of June 2026, down from 1,302 a year earlier. The 278 shuttered shops is the equivalent of 21.4% of the group’s entire estate, data from owner Evoke published on Wednesday (12 August) shows.
Around 200 of these shops closed in May 2026 alone, with 69 stores closed in 2025. Evoke, which also owns 888 and Mr Green, said it shuttered the shops which were not commercially viable after a review of its estate. The money its saved will be put into the remaining stores.
Evoke’s retail revenue fell 2.6% to £245.6 million because of the closures, while stripping out the closed shops sales actually rose 4%. Profits from the shops rose 5.4% to 31.2 million despite the smaller estate, which Evoke attributed to to closing loss-making branches and restructuring how its retail business runs.
Betting revenue in shops dropped 3% as the amount that customers staked fell 8%, offset be a percentage point rise in the margin the company keeps on bets. Gaming machine revenue fell 2%.
Group revenue was flat at £887.5 million and Evoke reported a loss of £70.2 million for the half year.
The cuts follow the government’s decision in November 2025 to raise gambling duties, with higher remote gaming duty taking effect from 1 April 2026. and a new online betting duty due in April 2027. Evoke estimates that that the changes will cost it £125 million-£135 million a year before any action to offset them.
