Betfred says a doubling of Machine Gaming Duty could force 495 UK shop closures and wipe out retail betting by 2030

Betfred has already shut 132 betting shops after April’s Remote Gambling Duty increase, and founder Fred Done is now warning that another tax step-up could push retail betting toward the exit. For PSPs, acquirers and banking partners, the point is simple: when the cost stack rises faster than shop economics, branch networks shrink first and payment volumes follow.

1. Done told the Financial Times that if Machine Gaming Duty (MGD) were doubled from 20% to 40%, Betfred would close 495 shops within a year. He put the knock-on effects at 2,575 lost jobs and about £67 million in foregone tax revenue for the Exchequer.
2. Betfred currently operates approximately 1,094 retail shops across the UK. The company’s retail model still depends heavily on fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) and in-shop gambling, and Done said retail betting would be “impossible” without those machines, despite the £2 maximum stake cap introduced in 2019.
3. The warning lands after Betfred already closed 132 betting shops this year, following April’s Remote Gambling Duty tax hike. Chief Executive Jo Whittaker said the closures reflected “the combined impact of higher employer National Insurance contributions, wage inflation, increases in gambling taxes and wider economic uncertainty.”
4. The pressure is not limited to Betfred. Evoke closed 200 William Hill stores in April for the same reason, while Stella David, CEO of Entain, said a rise in MGD could add £100 million in operational costs. In a letter to the UK Prime Minister last week, she said the change would mean “people losing their jobs and communities losing long-established high-street businesses.”
5. Done framed the issue as a broader retreat from high-street retail. He said betting shops could disappear entirely by 2030 and added: “We’ve already worked it out that with the increases in taxes and salaries and other wages it won’t be worth operating.”

There is also a sponsorship angle here. Betfred sponsors Britain’s five classic horse races, including the Epsom Derby, and Done said the company had not yet agreed to extend those sponsorships. For operators in adjacent verticals, the message is familiar: once retail economics are squeezed enough, the pressure shows up not just in closures, but in marketing, sponsorship and every other expense line tied to physical presence.