Dragon Boyz

About Dragon Boyz

Fred Done, the 83-year-old founder of Betfred and Britain’s highest-paying taxpayer this year, has issued a stark warning about the impact of further tax increases on the gambling industry. 

In an interview with the Financial Times over the weekend, Done cautioned that additional tax hikes could result in widespread betting shop closures, harm related sectors such as horse racing and accelerate the decline of the high street.

Betfred currently operates approximately 1,094 retail shops across the UK. Done highlighted the concrete risks of Machine Gaming Duty – taxes on gambling machines – doubling from 20% to 40%, a move reportedly under consideration by Chancellor John Healey ahead of the Autumn Budget.

About Dragon Boyz

“This decision has not been made lightly and our immediate priority is to support those of our colleagues who may be impacted through this transition.”

Earlier this year, Entain reported it would be cutting 500 roles globally across operations and its central functions, it insisted it was not a reaction to the earlier increase in RGD, but rather part of new CFO Michael Snape’s restructuring and cost cutting exercise.

Entain said at the time: “As part of our ongoing focus on enhancing Entain’s operational efficiency and agility, we have begun implementing organisational changes which will regrettably impact a number of roles across the group over the months ahead.”  

About Dragon Boyz

“Skyhills uses devious advertising, including on TikTok, explicitly targeting Dutch players, especially young people. Players there gamble without any safeguards and face all associated risks,” he said. 

“This is unacceptable. It is encouraging to see Skyhills go offline immediately after our initial action.”

Skyhills is the third illegal operator targeted by Nederlandse Loterij, with prior legal action taken against Lalabet and Qbet.