Business · 31 July 2026
Betfred closes 132 shops and cuts 600 jobs after gambling tax increases
Lawrence Lewis Bergstein at English Wikipedia via Wikimedia Commons (Creative Commons CC0 License)
The closures wipe out just over a tenth of the bookmaker's entire UK high street estate, leaving it with 1,094 branches. Chief executive Jo Whittaker blamed the shutdown on higher National Insurance bills and the recent rise in gambling levies under Rachel Reeves. The loss of these sites will also cost the British horseracing industry about £4m in media rights payments.
Reported by Sky News · How we write briefs