William Hill owner evoke has appointed Janice Duncan as Group Finance Director while rumours around a potential takeover continue to swirl. 

Duncan, who joins after leaving her role as Chief Financial Officer at Casumo, brings 13 years worth of experience in the industry to the LSE-listed business, including in roles at William Hill. 

She started her career in banking, holding various positions at National Australia Group before joining the Royal Bank of Scotland and later RBC Insurance, which is now Direct Line Group. 

Duncan then made the switch into the iGaming industry in 2013, spending nearly five years at Coral and then joining William Hill in 2018. 

After rising up the ranks to become the company’s Finance Director in 2019, she left at the end of 2020 to join Rank Interactive as Chief Financial Officer, meaning any of her work there predates evoke’s 2022 acquisition of Hills’ assets. 

Duncan spent two years at Rank Interactive before joining Casumo in 2023. 

“I’m delighted to share that I have joined evoke as Group Finance Director,” she said. 

“I want to express my gratitude to the team at Casumo. Over the last 3 years, I’ve had the opportunity to work alongside exceptional people, navigate complex challenges, and contribute to meaningful growth and transformation.

“I’m excited to join evoke at such an important time in its journey. The opportunity to work with talented teams, drive strategic initiatives, and help shape the next phase is one I am looking forward to with great enthusiasm.

“I am excited for what lies ahead and eager to contribute to the continued success of the business and our people.”

Fresh rumours at evoke 

The news of Duncan’s appointment comes at a critical time for evoke, which has a week left to make a decision regarding a takeover offer from Bally’s Intralot. 

Back in April, evoke confirmed that it was “in discussions with Bally’s Intralot regarding a possible offer for the entire issued and to be issued share capital of the Company at a price of 50 pence per share”, or a total fee of around £225m. 

The business, which also owns the 888 and Mr Green brands, bought William Hill for £2.2bn in 2022 back when it was known as 888 Holdings. A sale of the entirety of evoke for £225m would be seen as a catastrophic loss. 

A deadline of 18 May was issued for this, but on that day, evoke announced an extension of the deadline to 8 June as talks continued. 

One major talking point regarding a deal has been the debt which the combined entity would undertake – £1.9bn from evoke and £1.5bn from Bally’s Intralot – which would be around £3.4bn. 

That issue may be one that is being addressed right now, and, according to Sky News this morning, a subsidiary of private equity firm TPG is set to commit up to £800m to finance the takeover. 

Financing from TPG Credit could make a potential deal more viable, though its owner did decline to provide comment to Sky News regarding the situation. 

It also comes as evoke continues its plight on the LSE. The business initially made an offer for William Hill back in September 2021, when its shares were trading at around the £4 mark. 

Today, it holds a share price of just 38.4p and a market cap of £170.7m, and many are suggesting that a sale, even at this low of a price relatively speaking, could be the best way forward for evoke. 

Whatever happens, it is safe to say that Duncan will be busy almost immediately at the business as we await confirmation on the Bally’s Intralot proceedings.