William Hill’s legal troubles over the past decade include record-setting UK regulatory penalties for failing to protect problem gamblers and prevent money laundering, an antitrust fight tied to a corporate takeover, a disputed six-figure jackpot now drawing solicitor interest, and significant cross-border exposure in Austria and Germany. The bookmaker’s current parent, Evoke plc, is carrying roughly £1.9 billion in net debt and weighing takeover offers while closing hundreds of shops.
The Record £19.2 Million Gambling Commission Penalty
In March 2023, the UK Gambling Commission imposed a £19.2 million enforcement payment on three William Hill entities for what it called “widespread and alarming” failures in social responsibility and anti-money laundering controls between January 2020 and October 2021. The penalty was split among WHG (International) Limited (£12.5 million), Mr Green Limited (£3.7 million), and William Hill Organisation Limited (£3 million).
The findings were specific and severe. One customer lost £14,902 in 70 minutes. Another lost £23,000 in 20 minutes. A third deposited and lost £32,500 over two days on a brand-new account, with no income verification. On the money-laundering side, a customer lost £70,134 in a single month, another £38,000 in five weeks, and a third £36,000 in four days, all without source-of-funds checks. A mandatory 24-hour cooling-off period for credit limit increases was not enforced; in one case a customer placed a £100,000 bet immediately after being granted a £70,000 credit limit.
The Commission also found that 331 customers who had self-excluded through Mr Green were still able to gamble on the WHG platform. The regulator said it “seriously considered” revoking William Hill’s operating license but accepted a financial penalty because the operator, by then owned by 888 Holdings, cooperated and began making changes.
A Pattern of Enforcement Actions
The 2023 penalty followed earlier sanctions and was itself followed by another. In February 2018, the Gambling Commission ordered William Hill Group to pay at least £6.2 million for failures between November 2014 and August 2016. One customer deposited £541,000 over 14 months based on a verbal claim of high income while actually earning around £30,000 a year. Another deposited £654,000 over nine months with no verification on similar real income. The package included more than £5 million for regulatory breaches, forced divestment of £1.2 million in proceeds linked to ten customers whose funds were tied to crime, victim reimbursement, and external compliance audits.
Sister brand Mr Green was separately fined £3 million in February 2020, meaning the conduct that produced the 2023 record penalty continued for at least a year after that earlier sanction.
In August 2025, the Commission imposed a further £82,687 penalty on WHG (International) Limited for failures around identifying individual customers on its remote platform. The company self-reported the breach and cooperated.
The Disputed £285,000 Jackpot
In March 2026, John Riding, a 76-year-old from Burnley, reported winning £285,000 on a William Hill online casino game called Jackpot Drop. William Hill withdrew the money from his account, saying a “routine review of platform activity” had identified “incorrect sums being credited to players’ balances,” and issued a £15.40 refund instead. Riding told the BBC he suffered a heart attack after the dispute.
Solicitor Paul Kanolik of Ellis Jones Solicitors said his firm was exploring claims on behalf of affected players, potentially as a group action, noting that case law suggests a betting operator cannot always rely on terms-and-conditions clauses to avoid paying out. The precedent he pointed to is the 2018 Betfred case, in which Andrew Green won a £1.7 million jackpot the bookmaker refused to pay on grounds of a software defect. In 2021, a High Court judge ruled Betfred’s terms and conditions were “inadequate to exempt” it from paying and ordered the full amount plus interest.
The NYX Gaming Antitrust Lawsuit
In November 2017, NYX Gaming Group sued William Hill in the Chancery Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey over Scientific Games’ proposed roughly CAD$775 million acquisition of NYX. William Hill, which held 6.8 million NYX ordinary shares and £80 million in preference shares, tried to block the deal citing its existing contractual arrangements. NYX alleged violations of the New Jersey Antitrust Act, tortious interference with economic advantage, and tortious interference with contract, and sought injunctive relief, treble damages, attorney’s fees, and punitive damages.
The case settled quickly. In December 2017, Scientific Games agreed to buy William Hill’s NYX shares at C$2.40 each and its convertible preference shares for £87 million. William Hill withdrew its opposition, the parties entered a new commercial arrangement, and the litigation was terminated.
Ownership Changes and Financial Pressure
Ownership has turned over twice. In April 2021, Caesars Entertainment completed a $4.0 billion acquisition of William Hill, chiefly to pick up its U.S. sports betting operations, and immediately put the non-U.S. businesses up for sale. In September 2021, 888 Holdings agreed to buy the European business, including roughly 1,400 UK betting shops, for £2.2 billion.
That deal left 888, now rebranded as Evoke plc, heavily leveraged. For fiscal year 2025, Evoke reported net debt of about £1.9 billion, revenue of £1.78 billion (up 2%), and adjusted EBITDA of £356.2 million (up 14%). The company posted a loss after tax of £549.1 million, driven largely by £440.3 million in non-cash impairments linked to anticipated UK gambling duty increases.
Those duty increases, announced in November 2025, raise tax on online casino games and slots from 21% to 40% effective May 2026, with sports betting tax rising from 15% to 25% in April 2027. Evoke launched a strategic review in December 2025 and began closing roughly 270 underperforming William Hill shops, leaving more than 1,000 locations.
By mid-2026, Evoke was in takeover talks with Bally’s Intralot, which submitted a proposal valued at approximately £225.3 million, or 50 pence per share, with a May 18, 2026 deadline for a firm offer. The Guardian separately reported Evoke had agreed to a £243 million takeover by a Greek casino and lottery firm; the relationship between the two reports and their final status were not clear from available reporting.
Ongoing Cross-Border Legal Exposure
Evoke’s exposure extends well beyond the UK. The company held a legal and regulatory provision of roughly £121.4 million as of mid-2025, primarily tied to gambling operations in Austria and Germany run through a Malta-based subsidiary. A European Union ruling determined that claims for losses from illegal online gambling are governed by the law of the player’s country of residence, which can expose the parent rather than only the subsidiary.
In November 2025, an Austrian physician who had previously won a judgment of more than €700,000 including interest for gambling losses filed a private criminal complaint with the Vienna Public Prosecutor’s Office. It named Evoke CEO Per Widerström, the company’s former international managing director, and several Evoke-owned companies, alleging they had been “illegally organising gambling in breach of Austrian law.” The same complainant initiated bankruptcy proceedings against Evoke in Malta after the company invoked Malta’s “Bill 55” legislation to block enforcement of the earlier civil judgment. A binding European Court of Justice ruling expected in 2026 could affect the enforceability of these cross-border claims.
Separately, former Entain executives Kenny Alexander and Lee Feldman sued the Gambling Commission in the High Court for misuse of private information, tied to the regulator’s review of Evoke’s operating license during their failed 2023 attempt to take control of the company. They argued the Commission’s public disclosures suggested “adverse findings” against them and caused reputational harm. In January 2026, Mrs Justice Eady dismissed the claim, and in March 2026 the claimants were denied permission to challenge the dismissal. Both men are among 11 defendants separately charged with bribery and fraud related to Entain’s former Turkish operations, with that criminal trial scheduled for 2028.