Betfred Founder Warns High Street Betting Shops Could Vanish by 2030
In a recent article by the Financial Times, Betfred founder Fred Done has warned that high street betting shops across Britain could disappear entirely by 2030 if the Government proceeds with further increases to gambling taxes, adding that around 495 additional retail outlets face potential closure. The statement from the Warrington-based operator’s co-founder intensifies an ongoing dispute between the retail betting sector and the Treasury over the fiscal direction of the industry.
The Immediate Context
The warning follows the Autumn 2025 Budget, in which Chancellor Rachel Reeves raised Remote Gaming Duty – the levy applied to online casino games – from 21% to 40%, effective April 2026. Bookmakers’ retail sports betting operations were largely spared from direct duty increases in that round, a point that has offered only partial reassurance to a sector already contending with sustained commercial pressure.
The retail betting estate has been contracting for years, driven by the migration of customers to online channels, fixed-odds betting terminal restrictions, and rising operating costs. Betfred, which operates roughly 1,300 shops and employs approximately 7,500 people, had already warned in the run-up to the Budget that it might be forced to close its entire retail estate if taxes rose sharply. The company has since confirmed plans to close 132 shops, with around 600 job losses, while other major operators have announced comparable measures. Evoke, the owner of William Hill, has signalled approximately 200 shop closures, citing the higher duty burden on its online operations.
The Argument From the Retail Sector
Done, who co-founded the business in 1967 with his brother Peter, has argued that further tax increases would push the remaining retail estate past a tipping point. His central contention is that taxation designed to target online gambling risk accelerating the decline of physical betting shops, which he characterises as part of community life on Britain’s high streets. He has also questioned whether closing shops would reduce gambling activity at all, suggesting that customers would simply move online rather than stop betting altogether.
Industry bodies have echoed the warning. The Betting and Gaming Council has previously cited analysis indicating that aggressive tax rises could threaten tens of thousands of jobs and remove billions of pounds from the UK economy, encompassing both retail and online operations.
A Contested Claim
The warning has not gone unchallenged. During the pre-Budget debate, a cross-party group of MPs described industry claims about potential job losses as “scaremongering,” arguing that operators had exaggerated the likely impact of tax rises. Some stakeholders have noted that online gaming, not retail betting, bore the brunt of the November Budget, and that the retail sector’s broader challenges – declining footfall, changing consumer behaviour, and the shift to digital channels – predate any changes to fiscal policy.
This leaves the sector with a mixed picture. Betting shops remain profitable for some operators, but their share of total gambling revenue continues to shrink, and the margin for absorbing additional costs is narrowing. Whether further duty increases would be the decisive factor in the retail estate’s decline, or simply accelerate an existing trajectory, remains a matter of dispute between operators and policymakers.
