Betfred has warned the Chancellor against raising the gambling tax at the Autumn Budget or they will be forced to close all 1,287 pf their betting shops.
This comes as there has been speculation that Rachel Reeves could raise the gambling tax to help close the alleged £30 billion shortfall.
Fred Done who co-founded Betfred told the BBC, “If [the tax rate] went up to anywhere like 40%, or even 35%, there is no profit in the business. We would have to close it down.
“I’m talking job losses. We’re talking probably 7,500.”
Speaking to the Sunday Times, Betfred’s chief executive, Joanne Whittaker warned, “The most frightening element is we’re going to lose the whole retail business. I’m not scaremongering … I’m not being alarmist.”
Last week William Hill warned that up to 200 of their betting shops could close affecting 1,500 jobs and Stella David, the chief executive of Entain, who owns Coral and Ladbrokes warned a hike in the tax will close stores and they will redirect their investment to other countries.
A Treasury spokesperson said, “We do not comment on speculation around future changes to tax policy.”
The spokesperson added, “We are consulting on bringing online betting in line with other forms of online gambling to cut down bureaucracy.
“It is not about increasing or decreasing tax rates, and we welcome all views.”
