Fred Done, Chairman and Co-Founder of Betfred, believes that betting shops will cease to exist on the high street under current economic conditions.
In an op-ed for The Sunday Times, Done directly referenced the proposal made in June by the Social Market Foundation (SMF) think tank to double Machine Games Duty (MGD) from 20% to 40%.
As it stands, the UK Treasury is understood to be modeling potential increases to MGD ahead of the first Budget PM Andy Burnham and new Chancellor John Healey. Reports suggest that the Labour government is open to increasing taxes on machine income of betting shops and Adult Gaming Centers (AGCs).
Done: Betting shops face terminal end by 2030
In a separate interview with the Financial Times, Done revealed that fixed-odds betting terminals accounted for half of Betfred’s shops profits.
He believes that increasing taxes will deal the final financial blow to high street betting by 2030, giving the sector a four life expectancy before extinction from the high street.
If the SMF model doubles the MGD tax rate, the Betfred Co-Founder warned that this would result in the closure of around 45% of Betfred’s current retail estate, or 495 shops.
This would then bring with it the loss of 2,475 jobs, £66.8m lost in taxes, and £15.8m in annual horseracing funding, according to Done.
Betfred already pulled out of its long-standing sponsorship arrangement with rugby league, citing the government’s fiscal policy targeting the gambling sector as one reason.
Last year’s budget brought the Remote Gaming Duty up from 21% to 40%, and will increase the General Betting Duty to 25% by April 2027.
The former only affects online gaming and the latter will affect online betting, with retail excluded from both – but industry leadership point to a knock on effect as shops are closed in the name of wider cost efficiency.
Betfred was already forced to close 132 shops earlier in July, which resulted in the loss of 600 jobs, £17.8m in taxes, and £4.2m in annual funding for horseracing.
“I believe that by 2030 we will have no betting shops,” Done told the Financial Times, adding that “the high street will be dead”, and taking aim at Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s ambitions to revitalise the British high street.
While MGD was not included in the 2025 rate increases, the possibility of this year’s October Budget bringing those rates up will mean Betfred having to walk away from other sports, as well as closing more shops according to Done.
This could include the firm’s sponsorship of the five classic British flat horse races over the next three years. Horse racing has already been losing marketing support this year as bookmakers look to adjust marketing strategies, chiefly to save costs.
Eyes return to Autumn Budget
Done’s comments in the mainstream UK press comes as lobbying is stepped up ahead of the next budget, due to be announced by John Healey, Chancellor of the Exchequer, on 28 October 2026.
The Treasury is examining revenue-raising measures capable of supporting public spending without increasing the headline rates of income tax, National Insurance or VAT. Machine Gaming duties represent an alternative option for the Chancellor to activate additional funding.
Bookmakers are desperate to avoid any further taxes, but leadership figures like Done are also aware that public sympathy for an industry that reaped £17.5bn in gross gambling yield in 2025/26, up 4.4% from £16.7bn the year prior.
“I’m not asking anyone to feel sorry for bookmakers, but I am asking the government to open its eyes…Please, let us breathe. Give us some sort of chance to keep investing,” Done concluded.
Article co-authored with Ted Menmuir, Ted Orme-Claye, and Patrick Killeen.
