Betfred back in black as FOBT stake cut ‘not as bad as expected’

UK bookmaker Betfred bounced back into profit in its most recent fiscal year after two straight years of negative results.

Betfred filed its annual report with Companies House last week, detailing the company’s financial performance in the 12 months through September 29, 2019. Unlike its publicly traded brethren, the privately held Betfred doesn’t issue quarterly reports, making its annual statements the only (limited) snapshot of how the bookmaker is faring.

Total gambling turnover hit £10.1b, down significantly from 2018’s £13.2b. Betfred doesn’t break out its online vs. land-based turnover but said the decline was largely thanks to the maximum stake on betting shops’ fixed-odds betting terminals falling from £100 to £2 as of April 2019. However, Betfred said the impact of this change on the bottom line was “not as bad as expected.”

Betfred’s revenue was down 12% to £621.4m. Despite the declines, Betfred’s betting duty rose 5.3% to £53.3m, while the FOBT stake change resulted in machine gaming duty falling 26% to £64.3m. Gross profit slipped 11.5% to £475m.