Britain’s high streets have long been home to the bright lights and familiar buzz of betting shops, but that tradition now faces an uncertain future as the government considers a dramatic overhaul of gambling taxes. Betfred, the nation’s second-largest bookmaker, has issued a stark warning: if Chancellor Rachel Reeves goes ahead with a proposed doubling of gambling duties in the upcoming November 26, 2025 budget, the company will shutter all of its 1,300 shops, putting up to 7,500 jobs at risk. This is not just a Betfred problem—rival firms are already bracing for a similar fate, hinting at a seismic shift for Britain’s gambling sector and the communities that rely on it.
Joanne Whittaker, Betfred’s chief executive, didn’t mince words in her conversation with The Sunday Times. “The most frightening element is we’re going to lose the whole retail business,” she said, insisting, “I’m not scaremongering — I’m not being alarmist. If these rises happen, that’s the reality.” The measures under consideration would see sports-betting duty jump from 15% to 30% and machine and online-gaming duty leap from 20% to 50%. Treasury officials estimate the changes could raise £3.2 billion annually—enough, supporters argue, to abolish the two-child benefit cap and make a dent in child poverty.
But Whittaker and others in the industry see a different outcome. “These proposed changes would produce the opposite of their intended effect — reducing tax revenue and accelerating black-market growth,” she wrote in a letter to Chancellor Reeves and Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy. She’s not alone in her concerns. Fred Done, Betfred’s co-founder and chairman, echoed the sentiment in an interview with the BBC, calling the tax rises “the biggest threat” to the industry in his 57 years. “It doesn’t even need to go up to 50%. If it went up to anywhere like 40% or even 35% there is no profit in the business. We would have to close it down. I’m talking job losses. We’re talking probably 7,500.”
The warning from Betfred comes on the heels of similar announcements from industry heavyweights. William Hill’s parent company, Evoke, is preparing to shut 200 shops, while Paddy Power has announced 57 closures. Entain, the FTSE 100 group behind Ladbrokes and Coral, has also signaled its retail arm would be “at risk” under steeper tax rates. The UK currently boasts about 5,900 licensed betting shops, employing roughly 46,000 people. If Betfred’s prediction comes true and others follow, the high street could lose not just a business, but a community fixture.
For Whittaker, the fight is personal as well as professional. Her path to Betfred’s top job was unconventional—she first met Fred Done’s daughter at Bolton College, launched the company’s first online business in the early 2000s, left to found a childcare-voucher company, and returned in 2021 to take the helm. The Done family’s commitment to the business is mirrored by their contribution to the public purse: they were ranked Britain’s second-largest taxpayer in 2025, handing over £273.4 million.
Despite this, Whittaker admits she was “stupid and naïve” to think the government might spare high street shops from the crackdown. “We’ve got people in the Treasury who don’t understand our business,” she told The Sunday Times. Her candor marks a shift for the typically private Done empire, but the stakes, she says, are simply too high to stay silent.
The government, for its part, is facing mounting pressure from campaigners and politicians. Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown and more than 100 Labour backbenchers are backing the tax hikes, arguing that higher duties are long overdue given the social costs of gambling. A 2023 study by Gamble Aware found that 20% of adults are directly or indirectly harmed by gambling, while NHS estimates put the rate of problem gambling at 0.4% of the adult population. The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities pegs the annual cost of harmful gambling to society at between £1 billion and £1.77 billion.
Professor Ashwin Kumar, director of research and policy at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), told the BBC that “most of the profits made by gambling companies come from a very small number of gamblers, many of whom are at risk of serious harm. And so we think that the duties should be higher, just like tobacco and alcohol.” Chancellor Reeves herself recently stated on ITV, “I do think there is a case for gambling firms paying more… they should pay their fair share of taxes and we will make sure that happens.”
Yet, Betfred and its allies warn that raising taxes could backfire. The Betting and Gaming Council has called the proposed 50% tax rise “economically reckless,” predicting it would push gamblers toward unregulated offshore operators. Whittaker points to data from analyst Yield Sec showing that illegal betting websites took 71% of Europe’s online wagers last year. “The safest place for anyone to have a bet is with a UK-regulated bookmaker,” she insists. “We haven’t always got it right, but we’ve invested heavily in player protection. If someone wants to bet, they should do it safely.”
Fred Done, whose own journey began with a single shop in 1967 after a lucky wager on England’s World Cup win, is equally blunt. “Once the [UK] industry is closed down, it’s gone. People will still bet, but they’ll bet offshore with it. There’s plenty of bookmakers offshore who happen to take the bets, who don’t pay anything to this country.” He also notes that recent increases in employer National Insurance Contributions and the minimum wage have already added £20 million to Betfred’s costs, further eroding profitability.
Despite the criticism, Whittaker is proud of Betfred’s role in local communities. “The average bet is £9. People come in, sit, have a coffee and a chat. We’re part of local communities. We’re not the scourge of society,” she told The Sunday Times. She argues that regulated shops provide better safeguards for vulnerable gamblers than the online or offshore alternatives, and that closing them would remove an important layer of protection.
As the November 26 budget looms, all eyes are on Chancellor Reeves. Industry leaders, campaigners, and politicians are locked in a high-stakes debate over the future of Britain’s betting shops. Whittaker’s message to Gordon Brown is simple: “Come and look at our numbers. Look at the modelling. See what those tax rates would do to UK jobs.”
With livelihoods, tax revenue, and community spaces all on the line, the coming weeks could decide whether the era of the high-street bookmaker survives—or becomes just another chapter in Britain’s retail history.
