UK's Evoke rises on posting H1 adj pretax profit vs year-ago loss
** Evoke EVOK.L rises 2.4% to 63.8p ** British betting firm swings to adjusted pre-tax profit of 12.6 mln pounds ($17 mln) in H1 vs year-ago pre-tax loss of 9.8 mln pounds ** Says momentum accelerating into H2, with support from strong growth in core markets, new products ** EVOK gains ~4% YTD ($1 = 0.7402 pounds) (Reporting by Yamini Kalia in Bengaluru) ((Yamini.Kalia@thomsonreuters.com))