Salford businessman Fred Done has warned the Chancellor that if as expected she levies more taxes on the gambling industry, he may have to close his chain of betting shops
The BetFred bods talking to BBC’S Simon Jack on a threatened increase in betting tax to 40% said that he said he unequivocally he would close his betting shops with the loss of over 7,000 jobs and that there would be no fiscal benefit to the Chancellor
He predicted that gamblers would go off shore. and any increase could cost 100,000 jobs, many in horse racing
Done, who set up Betfred in 1967 with his brother, said a closure of that size would put 7,500 jobs at risk.
Done’s family was the second-highest tax payer in Britain contributing £273.4 million according to the 2025 The Sunday Times Tax List, was stark in his assessment of the impact the tax would have when speaking to the BBC.
“I think this is the biggest threat I have known since I’ve been in the industry,” he said. “On a 1-10 scale it’s a ten, all the alarm bells are ringing here.”
The reason for the heightened concern is the margins on licensed betting offices (LBOs). Done said 300 of his shops are “currently losing money” and that “if the tax went up to even 35 per cent there is no profit in the business . . . we would have to close it down”.
