Betfred Aware of Regulatory Threat After Returning to Profitability

Betfred Group returned to profitability in its latest company reporting period, but said it is wary of adverse impacts on future profitability, ahead of tax regulation changes in the UK.

A filing with Companies House showed the reporting period covered the 78 weeks ended March 30, 2025. The previous filing covered the 53-week period ended October 1, 2023, so a majority of the figures could not provide an effective comparison with the previous period, as the second reporting period was longer than the first one.

That aside, the business is showing profitability. Betfred made £128.8 million after-tax profit in the period, which followed an after-tax loss of £71.7 million in the previous period.

EBITDA was £293.7 million and turnover totalled £1.45 billion. Gross profit for the period was £1.07 billion, and operating profit was £209.6 million.

Activity outside the UK

The profitability was in part put down to a number of exits in markets outside the UK. During the period, Betfred exited nine US states, and following the reporting period, Betfred marked a complete exit from the US when it ceased operations in Pennsylvania in July.

The exit came after Betfred failed to compete with the leading operators in the country such as FanDuel and DraftKings.

Meanwhile, in September 2024, the operator sold off its Betfred Spain business for £2 million, resulting in a profit of £1.6 million. In October, Betfred bought a South African investment holding company which owns 100% of BF SA Support Services. This operates as a service provider to Betfred’s South African business.

Regulatory issues

Betfred will soon have to contend with a rise in online gambling taxes in the UK. In November, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced remote gaming duty, paid on online casino bets, will increase to 40% from 21% of gross profit, in April 2026. This will be compounded in April 2027 with a rise in general betting duty, paid on online sports betting (with the exception of horseracing), which will go up from 15% to 25% of gross profit.

In the reported financial period, Betfred paid more than £383 million in duty and commissions. This is broken down by £197.9 million spent on betting duty, £90.3 million being paid in machine duty from Betfred’s retail division, £18 million going towards the betting levy, and £77.4 million being paid in commissions. These figures will be expected to rise in the next financial period.

Betfred Group said:

“The board remains alive to, and monitors very closely, local economic conditions; anticipates adverse impacts on future profitability; strives to ensure group companies are free to innovate, and are both creative and competitive in their pricing and product offering.

"The Board also seeks to mitigate against the risk of losses arising from adverse sporting results.”

Compliance must improve

Betfred also mentioned how “all group companies remain committed to ensuring that compliance with the applicable laws and regulations remains at the heart of their respective businesses.” In the reporting period, Betfred was reprimanded by British regulator the Gambling Commission for operational failings.

In October, Petfre, operator of Betfred.com and Oddsking.com, was fined £240,000 by the Commission for breaching industry standards with its slot games. The failings included hosting games which did not display the player’s net position and games which celebrated losses as wins.

This was followed in December by the Commission ordering Done Brothers, trading as Betfred, to pay £825,000 for a series of social responsibility and anti-money laundering failures.