There’s something of the apocalyptic “28 Days Later” wasteland for debt-stricken evoke as they confirm they’re in serious talks with U.S. Bally’s to sell out for a relatively paltry £200 million (US$270m).
This for a company which was worth some £4 billion (US$5.4bn) at its fiscal peak when operating as 888 Holdings; before, under the leadership of then-CEO Itai Pazner, it made the fateful, debt-dealing decision to buy William Hill, arguably Britain’s most storied betting brand.
It’s all too facile to blame evoke’s current troubles on last year’s UK government gambling tax hikes, as the company’s current crop of executives would have us believe.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Asset…