Betfred Paid £54.5m in Machine Duty and Made £39.6m Profit in Its Last Year Before the Tax Rises

Betfred's group accounts for the 52 weeks to 29 March 2026 show turnover of £995.6m, online at 45% of it, and a machine duty bill larger than its profit after tax. They close three days before remote gaming duty reached 40%, and arrive weeks before a Budget that could double the duty on shop machines.

• Betfred Group Limited reported turnover of £995.6 million, gross profit of £720.0 million and profit after tax of £39.6 million for the 52 weeks to 29 March 2026, according to its consolidated accounts filed at Companies House on 9 October
• The prior period ran 78 weeks after a change of year end, so the comparatives are not like for like; the filing puts that period's turnover at £1,458.5 million, not £1.07 billion, which is the prior gross profit
• Online gambling produced £451.7 million, 45.4% of turnover against 38.6% in the prior period, while retail gambling produced £544.0 million and the group's betting offices fell from 1,351 to 1,293
• The group charged £54.5 million of machine gaming duty, £147.4 million of betting duty and £18.6 million of statutory levy, together more than three times its £64.0 million profit before tax
• The accounts were signed on 7 September, after the July announcement of 132 shop closures, and before the 28 October Budget in which Fred Done says a doubling of machine duty would shut 495 more shops

The Filing Shows a Profitable Group Moving Online Before the Duty Changes Bit

Betfred Group Limited, the Warrington holding company for the bookmaker, filed its consolidated accounts on 9 October. They compare the 52 weeks to 29 March 2026 with a 78-week period to 30 March 2025, which the directors say "may not be entirely comparable" because the year end moved from September to March.

Gross profit after duties, levy and commissions was £720.0 million, and operating profit £74.1 million after £7.1 million of exceptional costs, including £4.6 million on aborted acquisitions the filing does not name. Of the £39.6 million profit after tax, £32.7 million is attributable to the parent's shareholders, who received an interim dividend of £30.1 million. SBC News, which first reported the filing, gave the prior-period turnover as £1.07 billion; the accounts show £1,458.5 million, and £1,074.8 million is that period's gross profit.

The turnover note gives no geographical breakdown, which the directors consider would be "severely prejudicial" to the group. On a simple weekly average, an iGaming Times calculation that ignores the prior period's two Cheltenham Festivals and Euro 2024, online turnover rose about 20% and retail fell about 9%. The directors say increased online marketing lifted turnover by £23.3 million on a like-for-like 12-month basis. The 1,293 licensed betting offices at the year end are not split by country, and the directors say loss-making shops are "constantly reviewed and closed".

The group spent £22.1 million on research and development and left its last US state. Average headcount fell from 9,622 to 9,463, but the directors say employee costs rose £19.2 million on a like-for-like 12-month basis because of the National Minimum Wage and employer National Insurance.

The Tax Bill Sits Above the Profit Line

The profit and loss account deducts £147.4 million of betting duty, £54.5 million of machine gaming duty and £18.6 million of statutory betting levy before gross profit, £220.5 million in all. The total tax charge was £24.4 million. Within it, current tax on overseas income was £26.8 million and on UK income £3.0 million, reduced by deferred tax credits and prior-year adjustments; the filing describes Petfre (Gibraltar) Limited as the group's UK online business.

None of this reflects remote gaming duty's rise from 21% to 40% on 1 April, three days after the period closed, or the 25% online sports betting rate due in April 2027. The directors say both are in their going concern forecasts and the group stays within covenants in every downside scenario, with £127.1 million of cash and an undrawn £60 million facility. The going concern statement does not mention Machine Games Duty. The directors' report states there were no events after the reporting date significant enough to disclose.

On 31 July Betfred began consulting on closing 132 shops with more than 600 jobs at risk, and chief executive Jo Whittaker blamed employer National Insurance, wage inflation and gambling tax increases, according to SBC News and the Express & Star. In September Done said the Social Market Foundation's proposal to double the standard machine duty rate from 20% to 40% would close about 495 more, and Betfred said it would not renew its Super League sponsorship citing last year's Budget. Paddy Power co-founder Stewart Kenny called such warnings "familiar scaremongering".

The Machine Duty Line Is the Number the Treasury Should Read

Done's statement to the Financial Times that machines provide half of Betfred's shop profit matches the regulator's data: machines were 49.4% of non-remote betting yield in 2025/26, according to the Gambling Commission. Betfred charged £54.5 million of machine duty in a year in which it made £39.6 million after tax. A mechanical doubling on the same machine income would add a sum of that order before tax relief, which is why the base would not stay the same. That is the arithmetic behind 495 closures, and the reason the Treasury cannot assume a doubled rate yields double the receipts.

The Group Is Healthier Than the Warnings, and Less Transparent

The filing undercuts any suggestion that Betfred is in distress. Cash rose by £50.6 million, net assets rose, the dividend was paid, and the auditor, RSM, found no material uncertainty. But the most important questions cannot be answered from it: how much profit the British shops make, how much comes from South Africa's Lottostar, and how much the Gibraltar online arm contributes. A group asking the government to judge a tax by its effect on shops has chosen not to show what the shops earn. The Gambling Commission's count of 5,617 betting shops, down 208 in a year, is evidence of decline across the sector; it is not evidence about Betfred's margins.

Online Is Where the Growth Was, and Where the Tax Already Landed

The 45% online share is the hedge Betfred has been building, and it is the share that has just been taxed hardest. Remote gaming duty receipts doubled once the 40% rate began, and the online sports betting duty follows in 2027. A business that cannot lean on the shops and is paying more on online casino has fewer places to absorb a third tax rise.

Betfred's last pre-rise accounts show a profitable, cash-generative group already shifting away from the high street. The Budget on 28 October will decide how fast.