Betfred has made good on its word to cut sponsorship of the British Classics horse racing meetings.
The company’s decision to further shrink its marketing budget comes after its nine-year partnership with the Super League, the top-flight of British rugby league, came to an end in September.
SBC News understands that the decision to cut the British Classics sponsorships is largely, if not entirely related, to the UK budgets of November 2025 and October 2026, both of which increased taxes on gambling.
As such the company’s branding will no longer appear on Newmarket’s 1,000 Guineas Stakes and 2,000 Guineas Stakes, at the Epsom Derby or Oaks, or on the St Leger Stakes at Doncaster.
The Telegraph has reported that Betfred’s financial support for these five races has been in the millions over the years, with the most recent additions to its sponsorship portfolio being the New market Guineas races in 2025.
Betfred and bookies get budgeting
Fred Done, founder and owner of Betfred, said earlier this year that a second tax increase in Chancellor of the Exchequer John Healey’s October budget would likely lead to it cutting the British Classics sponsorships as a cost cutting measure.
Marketing has been a first port of call for budget cuts, including redundancy, since the 2025 budget of Rachel Reeves, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, which increased Remote Gaming Duty (RGD) on online gaming from 21% to 40% from 1 April 2026.
In the aftermath of the budget, the three biggest B2C gambling PLCs active in the British market – Flutter Entertainment, Entain and evoke – all stated that marketing budgets would be reduced by around 20% as a result.
The end of Betfred’s support for the British Classics also followed similar moves by the likes of Coral and bet365, the former ending its decades-long support of the Coral Cup in the aftermath of Reeves’ budget.
For Betfred, which has operates over 1,300 betting shops throughout the UK, the rise in Machine Gaming Duty (MGD) from 20% to 25% in Healey’s budget is expected to have a significant impact on its bottom line – though nowhere near as considerable had the rate increased to 40% as the Social Market Foundation (SMF) was calling for.
The company already confirmed earlier this year that 130 of its 1,300 betting shops would close, amounting to around 10% of its existing high street presence.
Betfred and the wider gambling market’s readjustment to the April increase in RGD comes ahead of not just MGD increasing from 1 April 2026 but also General Betting Duty (GBD), which will go up from 15% to 25% – albeit with an exception for retail betting.
