Betfred owners took £30m payout as machine tax fight looms

Betfred's Done family took a £30m interim dividend — a mid-year payout to owners — in the year to March 2026, lifting payouts since 2022 above £105m. Accounts say the money was reinvested in family businesses. That detail clouds industry warnings that a possible rise in machine games duty, the tax on betting machines, would force mass closures.