Betfred drops rugby league sponsorship

Betfred will not renew its sponsorship of rugby league and has warned it will walk away from horseracing’s five British Classics if the government raises machine games duty in next month’s budget.

Fred Done, the billionaire behind the bookmaker, set out the decision in The Sunday Times this weekend, urging the prime minister and John Healey, the chancellor, to drop plans for a fresh tax raid on the gambling industry.

“I’m not asking anyone to feel sorry for bookmakers. But I am asking the government to open their eyes. You can’t squeeze any more out of this industry. Every penny more of tax will kill investment, kill jobs, [and] kill horseracing,” he wrote.

Done and his brother, Peter, topped The Sunday Times Tax List this year, paying £400m to the Exchequer. Done’s plea comes days after Chris Rokos, the hedge fund manager who contributed £330m and was third on the same list, moved to Greece, reportedly over the prospect of a UK exit tax.

Betfred has been rugby league’s lead sponsor for almost a decade, in a deal said to be worth millions of pounds a year. “As much as it breaks my heart, we have decided not to renew our sponsorship of rugby league,” Done said.

Done, who is from Salford, a rugby league enclave in Greater Manchester, blamed tax rises, notably the near doubling of online gaming duty in last autumn’s budget. Rachel Reeves lifted that rate from 21 per cent to 40 per cent, and the levy on digital sports wagers from 15 per cent to 25 per cent. Bets in shops and machine games were spared.

Shop closures warning

Should machine games duty rise, Done warned of a “bloodbath in terms of shop closures and job losses”. Betfred would have to close 495 shops, almost half its estate, with the loss of 2,475 jobs, he said.

“The average bet placed in one of our shops is £10.87. Our customers are not high rollers or heavy gamblers,” he said. “After visiting one of our shops, they go on to spend money in neighbouring shops.”

Machine games duty is charged at 20 per cent of net takings on machines with a stake of up to £5, and at 25 per cent above that, HMRC’s published rates for 2026-27 show.

Ladbrokes owner Entain said this week it would cut 400 customer service jobs in the UK. Stella David, its chief executive, has warned that doubling the duty would add £100m a year to its costs.

Reeves’s move followed lobbying by centre and centre-left think tanks to raise gambling duties. Gordon Brown, who oversaw the liberalisation of gambling rules as chancellor and then prime minister in the 2000s, became a figurehead for the crackdown and led calls this summer to increase machine games duty.

“In the immediate future, I think Andy Burnham, I know him well, will want to do something along the lines I am suggesting,” Brown said last month.

Burnham has been a high-profile supporter of rugby league, most recently appearing at the Super League “Magic Weekend”. “Grassroots rugby league, and sport in general, matters a lot to me. It will be a big priority in my time in office,” he said this summer.

The prime minister has also singled out betting shops in a bid to “clean up the high street”. Done said it was “so upsetting to see betting shops grouped with vape shops and ‘rogue operators’ in recent government commentary”.

Horseracing sponsorship in doubt

Betfred is the lead sponsor of the Derby, the Oaks, the St Leger, the 2,000 Guineas and the 1,000 Guineas, collectively known as the British Classics.

“We have a verbal agreement to renew our sponsorship of the British Classic horse races for a further three years, but if October’s budget goes the wrong way on MGD, we will have to walk away from those too,” Done said.

Healey delivers the budget on 28 October facing an estimated £10bn shortfall.

The Treasury said: “The chancellor is fully focused on his priorities, to give families and businesses a bit of breathing space, back British jobs, and drive growth in every postcode, underpinned by a commitment to meet the fiscal rules.”

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Jamie Young

Jamie Young is Senior Reporter at Business Matters, covering SME finance, employment law and Westminster policy since 2016. He has reported on every Budget and Autumn Statement since 2018, helped make sense of the ‘covid era’ and the bounce-back loan scheme from launch through the fraud investigations, and broke the magazine’s coverage of the 2024 late-payment reforms. He joined Business Matters straight from completing his BA in Administration from Exeter University and is NCTJ-qualified. Reach him at jyoung@cbmeg.co.uk