Betfred has begun a consultation on closing 132 UK betting shops, a move that would cut about 600 jobs and remove just over 10% of its estate.
The bookmaker told affected staff on the morning of Friday 31 July. If the proposal is confirmed, Betfred will be left with 1,094 shops in Britain and a UK workforce of roughly 6,800.
Betfred’s estate peaked at 1,680 shops in 2017. The closures would put it around 35% below that level in nine years. The company was founded in 1967 by Fred Done and his brother Peter, who now rank as Britain’s biggest individual taxpayers according to The Sunday Times Rich List. Fred Done remains the owner.
Betfred names National Insurance first
Jo Whittaker, Betfred chief executive, confirmed the consultation in a statement issued in response to an enquiry from Sky News.
“It is with deep regret that we have today started a consultation with colleagues working in more than 130 of our shops regarding a proposal to close those locations. We have tried hard to protect all our sites and the colleagues who work in them, but the combined impact of higher employer National Insurance contributions, wage inflation, increases in gambling taxes and wider economic uncertainty has left us with no choice.”
The order of that list matters. Employer National Insurance and wage costs came before gambling duty, which is consistent with the shape of the tax changes: the November 2025 Budget increases land mainly on online gambling, while retail estates carry the payroll costs.
“These are well-run shops, staffed by dedicated colleagues, but the current fiscal and regulatory environment has made it impossible to keep trading all our shops. Our priority now is to support the colleagues affected, and to continue serving customers and communities across the rest of our estate.”
The duty changes behind the decision
Rachel Reeves, then chancellor, raised gambling duties at the November 2025 Budget. Remote gaming duty rises from 21% to 40% for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 April 2026. Remote betting duty goes from 15% to 25% from April 2027, with spread betting, pool bets, horseracing bets and self-service betting terminals excluded from the higher rate. Bingo duty is abolished and casino gaming duty bands are frozen for 2026-27.
HM Treasury expects gambling receipts of about £4 billion in 2025-26, rising a further 24.8% to roughly £5 billion in 2026-27. Operators have been reworking guidance around the UK tax position since the Budget.
Fred Done warned last November that the rising tax burden could force the closure of all of Betfred’s 1,200-plus UK shops. The 132 closures are the largest single move since that warning.
Racing loses about £4m
An industry source put the cost to British horseracing at close to £4 million a year. Each Betfred shop contributes an average of nearly £31,000 in direct payments through media rights and racing levies, which gives a figure of about £4.09 million across 132 sites.
That comes as operators are already objecting to the Gambling Commission’s affordability checks, which the sector argues will reduce betting turnover on racing. Industry executives have also told the government that shop closures push customers towards unregulated offshore sites, a market ministers have separately been trying to restrict.
Third major retail cut this month
Entain, which owns Ladbrokes and Coral, cut 2% of its workforce, about 500 jobs, earlier in July. Evoke, the parent of William Hill, and Flutter Entertainment, which owns Paddy Power, have both been reducing their shop estates in recent months. The pattern is now consistent across the four largest UK retail bookmakers and adds to a year of sector-wide job cuts.
Burnham and Healey are the next variable
The industry’s concern now sits with the new government. Andy Burnham became prime minister in July, appointing John Healey as chancellor in place of Reeves. Burnham has argued that local authorities should hold greater power over gambling licences, has backed campaigns to remove gambling advertising from sport, and has signalled higher taxes on adult gaming centres.
Betfred’s consultation with the 600 affected staff is under way. The next fiscal event will determine whether the remaining 1,094 shops face the same arithmetic.
Source: Betfred; SkyNews
