An Extensive History of Betfred.com
Updated: 15.08.2025
Starting off with one betting shop in the 1960s, Betfred has grown enormously over the past fifty years. They now have more than 1,350 betting shops and over 10,000 employees all over the world. Betfred is also one of the quickest growing online betting shops in the United Kingdom, especially when it comes to taking bets on British horse racing.
This is possibly partly because they are known for having unique bonuses and promotions that entice new customers to test their site, plus their inventive ideas are what make them stand out on social media. If you want to know more about the backstory of Betfred—from when the company started to how it has expanded over the years—then please read on. This article covers everything you need to know.
Fred & Peter Done
Fred Done is responsible for the development of Betfred. He was born in 1943 in Salford, England. At a very young age, he was interested in bookmaking. This was partly because his father was a part-time bookmaker. Done would go to local bars and factories to collect football bets from his father's customers. Both father and son were working in the gambling industry.
Done became the assistant to the most popular bookmaker in the city after high school. He was, of course, working for Ernie Peters. Done worked side by side with Ernie for almost nine years. During that time, he learned everything he could from the best in the business. Then, one day, Done decided that he was ready to strike out on his own and set up a bookmaking operation.
Fred required assistance to launch his enterprise, so he enlisted his sibling, Peter, to aid him in gathering together the vital bucks to make this shop a reality; he needed a fraction under $6,000. By the halfway point of 1967, they were set to unfurl the first Betfred betting shop, which they intro'ed in the city of their nativity: Salford, England. Most of their start-up capital came from a wager that Done had placed on England winning the World Cup that year.
Getting Their Feet off the Ground
At this point, we are already more acquainted with the origins of Betfred and its founders. But, what really made Betfred take off? What was the little "push," if you will, that sent them into the stratosphere of betting shop popularity? Well, for one thing, Done made his Portsmouth betting shop an actual betting shop you could fancy yourself stepping inside of — as opposed to placing your bet in a pub, as so many Brits were doing at the time. Done's was a betting shop at which you could find served drinks (not so good as pubs) but also biz-friendly shop talk (much better than in pubs). No wonder he didn't have to send up the old-timey, shill-show float to attract customers. By 1985, you could find Betfred in a pretty fancy Portsmouth, England betting shop.
Betfred expanded in numbers with his help but it also established a new standard for betting shops of the future. By 1997, Betfred had over 100 betting shops across Europe and in less than three years, their number of shops nearly doubled. Done made sure that even as the company expanded that they still focused on what was most important: customer service.
The first betting shop to pay off customers before official competition results were announced was Betfred. In March 1998, Betfred paid all customers who had bet that Manchester United would win the Premier League. This was one of Betfred's better-known promotions, since the game ended after midweek when most people had already concluded their betting for the weekend. Betfred supervisor Brian Wright said at the time, "Our accountant may have gone crazy, but it didn’t seem right for us to make our customers wait until the result was announced on TV." This also was a case of 'Betrfred' not being too far off with its predictions.
Continuing to Expand (Betfred.com is Born)
Betfred steadily grew, expanding into more than 500 betting shops by March 2005. During this period, Done was excited about another opportunity for growth: the online gambling market. He put together a group of professionals to develop Betfred.com, which his loyal customers couldn't wait to visit when it opened in 2004. (I did, too; as far as I know, I'm the only English professor who has taught a class of students on how to win at sports betting.)
Since its inception, Betfred has been committed to ensuring that its customers are wagering in a responsible manner. That's why they felt it necessary to put this on their website.
Our client service teams are trained to handle all parts of responsible gaming, and they can give you some sound advice if you ask for it. For instance, you and they together might decide that you should set a limit on how much you can pay to play, at least until you and your team can assess whether your gaming is under control or mostly in the realm of not-so-fun-even-if-you-win. They will also tell you not to set that limit too high. If you must have a figure, try half of what a not-so-rich friend of yours could keep in a wallet.
They provided a list of preventive measures that a person can take to ensure that a gambling problem does not develop.
Betfred.com provides an extensive range of services, including those in the realm of online casinos. Here are some things offered on their site: - A collection of slot games. - Live dealer games that give players an authentic casino experience. - In-play sports betting, which allows bettors to wager on games while they happen. - Virtual bingo with chat features. - Online poker with players from around the world joining tables at all hours. And that's just on the casino side of things! Betfred also provides betting opportunities on a multitude of different sports. And if you're not satisfied with any of these offerings, Betfred has a live chat feature that connects players with customer service representatives 24/7/365. So ask away!
An exceptionally unique aspect of their site is the weekly publication of the Goals Galore Bonus coupon. This allows players to make selections about which teams they think will score, and it costs them nothing to do so. According to The Guardian in 2010,
Betfred continues to be a forward-thinking company, as shown by their recent rollout of the extremely successful "goals galore" coupon. Customers now participate in a game of sorts where they select five of a whole slate of upcoming matchups and predict the score for those games. More specifically, they have to select five games and predict that both teams in those matchups will score. It's a pretty good bet that most customers don't even consider the actual scores when making their picks.
Two years post the launch of the Betfred website, Betfred ventured into a mobile version of their site, empowering players to access their site while on the go. Players operate with the same bankroll and are offered all of the same bonuses and promotions as they were when they were on the website.
Another method Betfred utilized to grow was through buying The Tote in 2011. In doing so, it acquired all 517 of its shops, for right around $400 million. This push into the racing industry has turned out to be extremely auspicious for Betfred.com. It has lured in bettors of a entirely different sort to their site. The Tote itself has been on the block since the late '90s. But it wasn't until Betfred significantly upped the ante on their initial offer that The Tote's owners finally decided to sell.
Relying on Social Media
Almost every social media site that one can think of, including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Google Plus, and Twitter, can now be found by Betfred. In fact, Betfred has several different Twitter accounts that spotlight certain aspects of their site, like a page for golfing fans and a page for bingo players. These Betfred accounts don't just keep you busy with the latest in the gambling world. They also let you in on secret promotions that are going on at the time.
In 2013, the Best Innovation in Social Marketing Award went to Betfred.com at the E-Gaming Review's Operator Innovation Awards event. The site was lauded for attracting new users to its platform through the clever use of social media. For that, they won.
Sponsorships & Charities
Betfred stands as one of the chief sponsors associated with the Sheffield and Kinsley Greyhound Stadium, Nottingham Greyhound Stadium, and Owenton Stadium. They were also sponsors of the World Snooker Championship for four years, from 2009 to 2012. After a short intermission, Betfred made the decision to re-up and partner with the event in 2015. For further information and insight on these varied partnerships, please read the sections below.
Betfred's sanctioned charity is the Injured Jockey Fund's "Jack Berry House." This worthy foundation has but one aim: to raise sufficient funds to open a modern, world-class rehabilitation facility for injured jockeys. This facility will render any and all medical services required to nurse a fallen rider back to health.
At this rehabilitation center, a gym will be filled with the equipment needed for traditional physical therapy, and a swimming pool will be available for hydro-therapy. Specialists will be hired to run these facilities and provide training programs for any current or aspiring jockeys who want to learn more about proper nutrition, injury management, sports psychology, and other subjects that will help keep serious injuries from happening in the future.
Betfred has contributed to various other regional and international organizations, such as the Harley Slack Fund, Killing Cancer; the Manchester Children's Hospital; Northern Racing College; and the Retired Greyhound Trust, to just name a few.
Betfred in Recent News
In 2014, Betfred declared that they were joining forces with the Snooker’s World Championship, which would now be called the Betfred World Snooker Championship—at least until 2017. The competition, which always runs from late April to early May at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, boasts a top prize of more than $460,000. Betfred expects that this relatively highbrow event, with a generally approximated audience of more than 300 million across 80 different countries, will bring them much-needed public attention.
Betfred has recently received some media attention for their new Summer Sizzler bonus offer. On their website, they can be seen promoting this new bonus alongside a handful of other enticing summer promotions. And why not take the opportunity to promote these sizzling summer bonuses? With a jam- packed summer schedule of must-see sporting events, including but surely not limited to the ones listed below, Betfred is offering many deals that are oh-so-sweet for sports fans.
Participants are also going wild for the chance to bag a weekend for two in Dublin each time they play the Irish Lotto on the site this July. It is very rarely that you hear of an online casino giving away luxurious trips as prizes, but it's something that Betfred has really focused on in these past couple of years, and we certainly look forward to them expanding in the future.
