Evoke shareholders have voted overwhelmingly in favour of the £243m Bally’s Intralot acquisition, pushing the deal significantly closer to completion.
The vote was structured as a Court Meeting under the Gibraltar Companies Act 2014, with two thresholds required to proceed with the scheme of arrangement.
Of the 31 scheme shareholders present at the meeting on 17 August 2026, 30 approved the deal, representing 99.91% of the scheme shares.
Both the individual voter threshold of 50% and the 75% shares threshold were exceeded by a considerable margin, reflecting strong confidence in the transaction.
A general meeting special resolution, designed to capture any future evoke shares within the scheme, also cleared the bar with more than 99% approval.
The result is notable given that evoke’s H1 2026 interim report flagged a “material uncertainty” about Bally’s ability to keep the company financially afloat following the acquisition.
Evoke’s directors had also expressed concern about a “lack of visibility over Intralot’s ability and intentions to operate the group under its ownership.”
Robeson Reeves, CEO of Bally’s Intralot, has maintained that he has no intention of immediately selling off any evoke assets following the deal’s completion.
Completion is currently expected in Q4 2026 or Q1 2027, pending approval from several regulatory and antitrust bodies across multiple jurisdictions.
These include the UK Gambling Commission, the Gibraltar Gambling Division, and Italian, Maltese and US regulators, with today’s announcement noting that “a number of the conditions relating to antitrust and regulatory approvals have also now been satisfied.”
Once all remaining approvals are secured, the overseeing Gibraltarian court must confirm the process was fairly conducted before the deal can formally close.
The financial stakes surrounding a swift completion are significant, with evoke carrying approximately £1.8bn in debt and a £200m revolving credit facility maturing in January 2028.
A further £769m of evoke’s debt is set to mature in July 2028, meaning any prolonged delay to the acquisition could seriously threaten the operator’s ability to refinance.
Evoke’s directors acknowledged in the H1 report that without a completed transaction, the group may struggle to generate sufficient profitability and cash flow to handle its debt obligations.
With the shareholder vote now emphatically passed, the most visible test of the deal’s viability has been cleared, and attention turns firmly to regulatory approvals.
