Betfred

A Racing Post count of every British race title shows bookmakers sponsoring 17% fewer races this year, with the cuts deepening after Remote Gaming Duty went to 40% in April. It lands three weeks before a Budget that may raise machine games duty, which would hit racing harder.

Alex Frost, who led the racehorse owners' purchase of the Tote from Betfred in 2019, will hand over to former GiG and DraftKings executive James Coxon at the end of 2026. In the same announcement the Tote is closing its online gaming and cutting back a consumer digital business that its latest accounts show made an EBITDA loss of £11.9 million.

Genting has shut its Coventry casino after a month-long staff consultation, blaming costs and tax rises the sector has already absorbed. The closure lands four weeks before a Budget that may double Machine Games Duty, and both sides of that argument are already using it.

A contract from the Casino Secrets leak shows the racing pictures and data supplier agreed in 2022 to serve Santeda's brands for a share of their revenue, according to the Guardian. Its owners include bookmakers that have repeatedly warned about the illegal market, and Entain says it has raised its concerns with SIS.

Genting, which runs 32 casinos in the UK, puts the cost of a 40% Machine Games Duty at about £16 million a year and more than 850 venue jobs. It is the casino sector's answer to the harm case against machines, a month before the Budget on 28 October.

Replying to Fred Done's forecast of 495 Betfred closures, Kenny told the Financial Times he used "the same script" himself when he represented bookmakers. He wants machines and online slots taxed harder than bets on sport.

The Conservative leader told The Sun that Labour is in a "tax doom loop" and that the operators who follow the rules will be the ones to close. Her intervention lands five weeks before a Budget in which the Treasury is reported to be modelling a doubling of Machine Games Duty, and as the Betting and Gaming Council puts the cost at up to 16,000 jobs.

The title sponsor of Super League, the Challenge Cup and England Rugby League will walk away at the end of the 2026 season. Fred Done ties the decision to last year's budget and the 132 shop closures that followed, and says the five Classics could go the same way if machine gaming duty rises in October.

The Betfred founder has put numbers on the Treasury's option: 45% of his estate, 2,475 jobs, £66.8m of tax and £15.8m of racing funding, in a Sunday Times op-ed and a Financial Times interview in which he says machines are half of shop profit. Betfred has already ended its Super League sponsorship, citing last year's Budget.

The Gambling Commission's 2025/26 report shows online casino up 14.8% to £5.7bn, adding more than the entire market gained. Online betting fell 6.6%, bingo fell, 208 betting shops closed before this year's cull began. The survey says participation is flat at 49%. The day after the Lords called for an advertising ban, the regulator's own numbers explain why the product mix is the argument.

The Ladbrokes owner says up to a fifth of its 2,000 customer care roles could go, weeks after an H1 that beat expectations and days after its chief executive wrote to the Prime Minister about machine games duty. The cuts are global; the argument is aimed at 28 October.

Around 300 of the roles are in Stoke-on-Trent, where bet365 is the biggest private employer, and 40 across Gibraltar and Malta. Voluntary redundancies come first. Every one of the five largest British gambling firms has now cut staff since remote gaming duty rose 19 points.

Flutter has put a number on the retail review it declined to quantify in August. Up to 100 of 506 shops go before the end of the year, with about 400 jobs at risk, and the company names the Budget.

Rank Group has delivered a standout set of full-year results against a difficult backdrop for UK-listed operators, growing underlying like-for-like net gaming revenue 6% to £834.1 million and lifting underlying profit by 21%. The figures suggest the Grosvenor and Mecca owner has absorbed the initial impact of the tax hikes that have rattled rivals.

The UK Treasury has pushed back against claims that its Remote Gaming Duty and employer National Insurance increases are driving a wave of Betfred shop closures, as the operator and the government trade blame over the future of the high-street betting estate.

The Gambling Commission has penalised the operator of betfred.com after social-responsibility gaps allowed a single customer to lose £17,900 in 24 hours, with the regulator branding the shortcomings "unacceptable".

A business bought for £2.2 billion less than four years ago may be about to change hands for a tenth of that price. The Bally's Intralot bid for Evoke is the most significant corporate development in British gambling for years.

Evoke warned this would happen if the government pressed ahead with its tax plans. It pressed ahead. Now 200 William Hill shops are closing and thousands of jobs are at risk.

The latest operator data from the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) shows Britain's retail betting shops are in a state of terminal decline, irrespective of any

The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) has issued a stark warning about the potentially devastating economic impact gambling tax increases could have on the UK.

This week, the industry's simmering rivalries boiled over in spectacular fashion. Forget quarterly earnings; we're talking about lawsuits, corporate

Betfred co founder Fred Done warns a UK gambling tax hike could force closure of all betting shops, risking 7,500 jobs & boosting the black market.

London, UK - 14th October 2025 - The iGaming landscape has been dramatically reshaped today, after European lottery powerhouse Allwyn and Greek gaming and

Allwyn International, the pan-European lottery powerhouse and new operator of the UK National Lottery, has made a blockbuster entry into the American market,