888 hopes to ‘make life more interesting’ as it plans to change name to evoke

Gambling company 888 plans to change its name to evoke plc to reflect its hopes to “make life more interesting by delighting players”, as it also upped the price of a cost-saving programme.

The business has increased the amount it will be spending on integrating with William Hill, which it bought in 2022 for nearly £2 billion. The cost is expected to rise to £115 million.

The business said its revenue jumped 38% to £1.7 billion in 2023, but that was mainly due to the addition of William Hill to its balance sheet.

On a pro-forma basis, revenue dipped 8%.

The business said it faced costs of £49.3 million from the integration and transformation of William Hill. That will bring cost-savings in the long run, it hopes.

It will be asking for approval from shareholders at its annual general meeting to change its name to evoke.

“Proposed change of the group’s name to evoke plc, subject to shareholder approval at the 2024 AGM, to better reflect the strength of the group’s multi-brand operating model and its vision and mission to make life more interesting by delighting players with world-class betting and gaming experiences,” the business said.

It comes after Per Widerstrom, a 17-year veteran of online gaming, took over the reins as chief executive in October last year.

The group’s net pre-tax loss was £121.3 million in 2023, greater than a £115.7 million loss recorded the year before. On an adjusted basis, profit dropped by nearly three-quarters year-on-year to £20.6 million.

Separately, betting company Flutter, which owns Paddy Power and Betfair, said its revenue jumped 24.6% to £11.8 billion, while the number of average monthly players rose by a fifth to 12.3 million.

The business said pre-tax loss rose from £295 million to £1.1 billion during 2023.