Betfred, a British mainstream lottery operator, recently joined the warning that the fiscal minister, Rachel Rivers, in his upcoming fall budget, might raise the lottery tax, threatening to lead to the dismantling of the entity’s business network. The CEO of Betfred, Joanne Whitaker, stated to the Sunday Times that the company was preparing for “the worst case” and stressed that “it was not alarmism, but business reality”.
Joanne Whitaker warned that tax increases could be counterproductive to the Government — eventually, as customers turn to unlicensed operators, tax revenues may be reduced. “If these rates are applied, the reality is that we will have no business to tax.” While the British Government has yet to confirm the plan for tax increases, Rachel Rivers has suggested that the lottery operator should bear additional tax burdens. More than 100 Labour Party parliamentarians and the Liberal Democratic Party have now called for an increase in the distance lottery tax from 21 per cent to 50 per cent, while there are proposals to raise the lottery tax to a similar level. Earlier this year, the Ministry of Finance proposed the consolidation of the three existing taxes to create a unified long-distance lottery tax, which is widely considered by industry to mean a substantial increase in the rate of sports lottery, which will eventually be aligned with that of online casinos. While the strongest calls within the Labour Party were for a tax increase for a remote lottery rather than a physical shop, the main operators were looking at the physical site as a priority area for cost reduction. Entain has warned of the possible closure of Ladbrokes and Coral, Evoke is considering the closure of William Hill and Flutter has announced the closure of 47 Daddy Power.
According to the Guardian, Betfred ranks as the third largest British lottery operator with 1287 stores, with 7,500 employees. Joanne Whitaker noted that the company continued to invest in the business of the entity despite a loss of £71 million in 2023 and £35 million in 2024. Its owners, Fred and Peter Dorne Brothers, ranked second in the British taxpayers last year at a tax rate of Pound273.4 million. Joanne Whitaker stressed that the Ministry of Finance failed to understand the importance of the physical lottery to the community: “Ministers of Finance officials are not aware of our business, we are not a social cancer”. She added that the average betfred store was only £9 and that many customers came for social interaction and recreational experiences.
