Evoke shifts focus to Europe with 2025 iCasino exit from Michigan

Neha Soni November 11, 2024

SiGMA news

Evoke has hinted at plans to shift its focus away from the United States market to Europe. Under this, the company’s operations in Michigan via Sports Illustrated Casino (SI) and Sportsbook will be affected.

The plans also include the company concluding the sale of its assets in Virginia and New Jersey. In addition, Evoke plans to target full exit from the US business-to-consumer (B2C) vertical somewhere in the first quarter of next year. A key step to executing the plan is the sale of its assets in Michigan and Colorado. Earlier the plan was to discontinue its offerings in Michigan by the end of the year.

The reason behind the discontinuation of its offerings from the state include the level of competition and unsatisfactory results. Of the total 15 licenced operators, SI Casino is permitted to offer their services to Michigan customers. According to a recent report, the platform’s revenue improved in the last months but is still below $1 million per month, making it difficult for the company to continue to offer its services there.

Looking at the records, for the month of June, SI Casino reported nearly $750,000 in revenue, and the figures improved slightly to $835,618 in July. Revenue for August dipped to $808,000 before increasing to $941,463 in September.

Acquistions and divestments

In related news, Evoke announced plans to acquire a majority stake in the gambling operator Winner.ro in August. The acquisition helped grow the company’s footprint in the region and helped strengthen its position as the fourth largest Romanian B2C gambling operator.

In March, the company had announced the sale of its US B2C assets to Hard Rock Digital. The divestment is expected to “realize a recurring annualized benefit to adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of approximately £25 million from 2025 onwards.”

The company had said it intends to use about £10 million of the total for various value-creating and growth initiatives. The divestment also translates to Hard Rock’s access to the Michigan market. However, the expansion remains subject to relevant regulatory approvals.