Bally’s Intralot CEO: we tackled UK taxes “from a position of strength, not retreat”

(AsiaGameHub) –   Robeson Reeves, the Chief Executive Officer of Bally’s Intralot, expresses continued confidence in the company’s ability to withstand UK tax and regulatory challenges as it approaches the end of its first complete half-year as a merged organization.

Established last year through the functional merger of Bally’s Corporation and Intralot, facilitated by the latter’s purchase of Bally’s International Interactive (BII), Bally’s Intralot has recently been in the news after confirming it is in talks to buy LSE-listed evoke.

After releasing its Q1 financials, Reeves and other executives provided minimal clarity on whether the company will submit a formal bid for evoke – stakeholders must wait until 8 June at the latest for an answer.

The leadership did, however, underscore the UK’s growing importance to its operations. Chief Financial Officer Andreas Chrysos disclosed that the UK is ‘our largest region’, contributing 64% of Bally’s Q1 revenue.

Chrysos noted that the latest figures are “confirming the group’s significant shift towards the UK digital consumer market.”

Can Bally’s ride out UK exposures?

Reiterating preliminary figures released on 18 May, Bally’s Intralot’s announcement yesterday showed year-on-year revenue surged 180.5% from €95.6m to €268.1m (£232.3m).

Adjusted EBITDA increased by 231.8%, from €30.2m to €100.2m. Divided into B2C and B2B segments, the B2C unit posted revenue of €204.6m (Q1 2025: €25m) and AEBITDA of €76.7m (€8.3m), while the B2B unit reported revenue of €63.5m (down from €70.6m) and AEBITDA of €23.5m (€21.9m).

It is worth noting that part of this growth stems from the company’s expansion via Bally’s M&A activity, with Bally’s Intralot’s results—which include BII’s earnings—being measured against Intralot’s standalone Q1 2025 performance.

Regardless, the numbers are striking. As mentioned, the UK was central to this performance, with Reeves stating the company’s “UK online business continued its strong momentum, growing 10.5% on a constant currency basis in the quarter”.

The group’s UK holdings are primarily iGaming brands – Jackpotjoy, Virgin Games, Monopoly Casino, Rainbow Riches Casino, Double Bubble Bingo, and Bally Casino. It also includes one sportsbook, Bally Bet, whose profile the group has sought to raise, for instance through a partnership with Nottingham Forest. It additionally runs a casino in Newcastle.

Nevertheless, a major uncertainty overhanging Bally’s Intralot’s UK activities, and this market’s newfound importance, is taxation. The new Remote Gaming Duty (RGD) implemented in April 2026 has been widely debated for good reason – it is anticipated to significantly reduce operator EBITDA and profit margins.

“The UK Remote Gaming Duty change is the most significant regulatory shift in our market in years,” Reeves informed investors and analysts.

“We have been telling you for several calls that we had a plan, that we had the margins to absorb it, and that a less competitive market would favor operators with our scale.

“The Q1 data and early April trading confirms that thesis. UK online revenue in Q1 grew 10.5% on a constant currency basis. Preliminary April NGR was up 11.5% year-on-year.

“Now for May, May is also showing double-digit year-on-year growth accelerating from Q1 and April in line with our expectations. The plan is working.”

The strategy Reeves mentions was to approach the new tax regime “from a position of strength, not retreat”.

Emphasizing the plan’s success, the CEO told analysts: “Active players are up year-on-year, our brands are very robust, our product is competitive, and our player base is growing.

“We are generating more efficient revenue from a larger player base. This is precisely the environment we said would benefit operators with our scale and margin profile, and that is exactly what is happening.”

Black market battle continues

The tax hikes are naturally creating considerable difficulties for operator finance departments and others.

It has been known for a while that major operators intend to reduce marketing expenditures, with Flutter Entertainment acting on this by cutting positions in its Paddy Power marketing team earlier this year.

However, a potential positive for the UK betting industry could be the additional £26m the government has pledged to combat the black market.

The government has also established a dedicated Illegal Gambling Taskforce, led by Baroness Tycross, to tackle illegal gambling, and the Gambling Commission is seeking to hire a Head of Illegal Markets – though the salary advertised for this demanding role has caused some surprise.

“Often people look at the UK market in the same way as other territories such as, say, the Netherlands, which had a rapid rise in channelisation,” Reeves commented, revisiting a common comparison between the UK and the Netherlands on how regulation and taxation affect black market operations.

“There’s a big difference here though. The UK over the past five years has essentially created a much more affordable spending environment for the mass market. So in reality, the VIPs, the high-stakes players, have already been displaced.

“So regarding the black market, and the efforts to police it, I simply would not anticipate as much change in market size from high-value customers because those customers have already moved to the black market.”

The UK is naturally not Bally’s Intralot’s sole market. While it made up the majority of Q1 revenue, it was followed by the Americas at 18%, with the rest of Europe and the rest of the World each accounting for 9%.

Still, the company will rely on the UK government to fulfill its commitment to fighting the black market and the competition it presents to regulated firms like itself, and will depend on its tax resilience to keep yielding results.