All high street betting shops will vanish by 2030 as 495 MORE face the axe, Betfred boss and UK’s largest taxpayer warns

EVERY high street betting shop in Britain could be wiped out within five years if the Government pushes ahead with a punishing new tax raid, the boss of the country’s biggest bookmaker has warned. Betfred founder Fred Done says further increases to gambling taxes in the upcoming Budget will destroy the high street industry for good. Remote Gaming Duty, the tax on online betting, jumped from 21% to 40% this April, with another new tax on remote betting due to land in 2027 The Sun’s Save Our Bets campaign urged ministers not to raise betting duties at the Budget Chancellor John Healey is understood to be considering doubling machine gaming duty from 20% to 40%. If the brutal tax hike goes ahead, Betfred alone would be forced to permanently shut 495 shops, costing 2,575 jobs and £67million in lost tax revenue. Sign up for the Money newsletter Thank you! That blow would come on top of 132 shops the firm is already closing following tax rises announced in last year’s Budget. The billionaire bookie runs Warrington-based Betfred with his brother Peter. Together, they made an estimated £400.1million tax contribution over the past year, making them the UK’s biggest taxpayers. Done warned the financial reality of soaring costs means physical shops simply will not survive a fresh government cash grab. He told the FT: “I believe that by 2030 we will have no betting shops. “The high street will be dead – we’ve already worked it out that with the increases in taxes and salaries and other wages it won’t be worth operating.” Most read in Money Dismissing claims that the industry is just scaremongering, Done insisted that hammering legitimate bookies will only push punters into the dangerous black market. “Do you think when there’s no betting shops punters will stop betting? The answer is no,” he said. “They will find a way to bet, like in the prohibition.” He added: “There won’t be the controls, there won’t be the taxes and there won’t be funding for racing.” His stark warning comes just days after Entain, the owner of Ladbrokes and Coral, revealed plans to axe 400 customer care jobs because of soaring gambling taxes. The firm, which runs more than 2,300 shops across the UK, has launched a consultation that could wipe out one in five roles in its customer care division. This follows a previous wave of cuts in July when Entain confirmed 500 roles would go to help cushion the blow from online gambling tax rises and growing market competition. Entain chief executive Stella David has written to the Prime Minister urging the Government to scrap plans to double machine games duty, warning it would pile an extra £100million a year onto the cost of running their UK shops alone. She highlighted damning industry modelling by EY, commissioned by the Betting and Gaming Council, which shows a 40% tax rate could trigger up to 1,470 betting shop closures and 15,900 job losses across the entire sector. The analysis warns the tax hike could actually backfire and cost the Treasury money, predicting a net loss to the Exchequer of around £120million once the fallout of lost jobs and closed businesses is factored in. Shadow culture, media and sport minister Louie French said: “Labour’s morality police were warned multiple times that high street shops would close and thousands of jobs would be lost across Britain. Now they are coming back for more.” The Sun’s Save Our Bets campaign is actively urging ministers not to raise betting duties at the Budget to protect punters and high street jobs. Betting and Gaming Council chief executive Grainne Hurst said: “Businesses are already cutting jobs, closing betting shops and reducing investment. “Ministers should be in no doubt: further tax rises will put more jobs at risk, force more closures and weaken the regulated sector, while handing an advantage to the unsafe, unregulated illegal gambling market. “The Government should heed these warnings before more damage is done.” Comment now