Betfred rakes in £1.5bn as founders enjoy jackpot payday
The billionaire brothers who founded Betfred have shared a bumper payday after the betting giant raked in almost £1.5bn.
The Warrington-headquartered business has posted a turnover of £1.45bn for the 78 weeks to 30 March, 2025.
New accounts filed with Companies House also show Betfred made a pre-tax profit of £188.6m over the same period.
The figures compare to a turnover of £907.9m and pre-tax loss of £35.8m the business posted for the year to 1 October, 2023.
The new results have also confirmed that Betfred’s shareholders, including the billionaire brothers and Fred Done’s daughter Nicola Done-Orrell, received a dividend of £25.3m in the year.
During the latest financial period, Betfred ceased trading in nine US states and sold its business in Spain. It also acquired a company in South Africa.
In a statement signed off by the board, the company said: “There has been an increase in performance across the group mainly due to exiting unprofitable overseas businesses; and a reduction in exceptional items mainly due to the impairment of all US assets, and a provision of £40m for onerous contracts in the prior period.”
Billionaire brothers share £60m payday
Last month, City PM reported that the billionaire founders of Betfred had shared another bumper payday after the continued success of HR giant Peninsula.
Founded by Peter Done in 1983, the Manchester-headquartered group provides services for the likes of the Co-op, Fred Perry, David Lloyd, Dreams and PayPal.
The group is run by Peter Done and is a separate entity to Betfred, which is controlled by his brother, Fred.
However, both billionaire brothers and Fred Done’s daughter Nicola Done-Orrell are shareholders in Peninsula and shared a huge payday for the second year in a row, thanks to the group’s continued financial success.
The shareholders received a dividend of £62m for the year to 31 March, 2025, accounts for Peninsula have revealed.
The total is down slightly from the record £65.5m they handed themselves in the prior 12 months.
The inflated dividend in the last two years comes after Peninsula issued pay days between £42m and £47m between 2019 and 2023 and £23m in 2018.
Peninsula last issued a dividend in the year to 31 March 2017.
According to the latest Sunday Times Rich List, the Done brothers’ wealth totalled £2.9bn, up £535m from 2024.
Betfred boss’s Budget warning
The accounts come after chairman Fred Done warned in October that all 1,287 Betfred shops could close in the UK if Chancellor Rachel Reeves increased taxes on gambling firms in her Budget.
Speaking to BBC News, Done said closing that many locations would put 7,500 jobs at risk.
In November’s Budget, online casinos and bookmakers were tapped to pay billions of pounds more in tax.
However, bets on horse racing will be exempt from the increase to the general betting duty.