By 
Fred Done, the founder of Betfred, has received a dividend of £10.2 million as the company prepares to make lay-offs and close shops across the board.Crackdowns on FOBTs and the intention of the UK Government to focus on the regulation of gambling machines have led to Betfred having to close stores and lose workers.
The numbers
This came following a reported pre-tax loss of £18.1 million for the year ending September 2017, down from a £32.4 million profit the year before.Despite this steep decline, Mr Done, who is estimated to be worth a little under £1.5 billion, still received the same dividend as the year before.Betfred, which was founded by Fred Done and his brother Peter some 50 plus years ago, is currently the third largest betting shop chain, with 1,666 facilities in the UK at the time of writing.
FOBTs
After the recent announcement that the UK Government would be cutting the maximum bet on fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) from £100 down to £2, Mr Done was one of the loudest voices to speak out against the decision.Done said that the new limits could see them having to close 900 high street betting shops and lay off anything up to over 4,000 workers.It has been rumoured that Done was considering a judicial review to appeal and hope to overturn the Government’s decision, and his MD sent an email to all Betfred staff imploring them to oppose the new limits.Despite being outspoken about his own concerns that his company will be losing money, and staff will not be able to be kept on due to the crackdown on FOBTs, it seems that Mr Done himself will be adding the same amount to his fortune this year as he did before the announcement.