The UK Gambling Commission has imposed a £900,000 penalty on Betfred’s operator, Petfre (Gibraltar) Limited, over failures in social responsibility licensing requirements.
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On July 31, 2026, Betfred confirmed that it will shut down 132 betting shops, comprising over 10% of its total UK network, and will cut around 600 jobs starting from September 2026.
As a result of the restructuring, the company will be left with around 1,100 shops in the UK, employing approximately 7,500 people. The decision to eliminate multiple venues and hundreds of staff was made in connection with the hikes in remote gaming duty, which are set to jump from 21% to 40% from April 1, 2026, with the general betting duty taxes scheduled to increase to 25% in 2027.
CEO of Betfred, Joanne Whittaker, commented:
“We have tried hard to protect all our sites and the colleagues who work in them, but the combined impact of higher employer National Insurance contributions, wage inflation, increases in gambling taxes and wider economic uncertainty has left us with no choice. These are well-run shops, staffed by dedicated colleagues, and it is incredibly hard to see any of them close, but the current fiscal and regulatory environment has made it impossible to keep trading all our shops.”
The move follows a similar trend among other major betting brands, including Flutter’s Paddy Power and evoke’s William Hill and 888, which all revealed they would shut down betting shops to deal with the tax raises.
