An Extensive History of Betfred.com

Updated: 15.08.2025

Starting with one betting shop in the 1960s, Betfred has grown tremendously over the past fifty years. They now have more than 1,350 betting shops and over 10,000 employees around the world. Betfred is also one of the fastest growing online bookmakers in the UK, especially when it comes to betting on British horseracing.

This may be partly because they are known for having unique bonuses and promotions that entice new customers to try their site, and their inventive ideas are what make them stand out on social media. If you want to know more about the history of Betfred - from when the company started to how it has expanded over the years - then please read on. This article will tell you everything you need to know.

Fred & Peter Done

Fred Done is responsible for the development of Betfred. He was born in Salford, England in 1943. He became interested in bookmaking at a very young age. 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 worked in the gambling industry.

After high school, Done became the assistant to the most popular bookmaker in town. He worked for Ernie Peters, of course. Done worked side by side with Ernie for nearly nine years. During that time, he learned everything he could from the best in the business. Then one day, Done decided he was ready to strike out on his own and start a bookmaking operation.

Fred needed help to get his business off the ground, so he enlisted his sibling, Peter, to help him raise the vital dollars to make this business a reality; he needed a fraction under $6,000. By the middle of 1967, they were ready to open the first Betfred betting shop, which they launched in their hometown: Salford, England. Most of their start-up capital came from a bet Done had placed on England to win that year's World Cup.

Getting Their Feet off the Ground

At this point we already know more about 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 that you could imagine yourself walking into - as opposed to placing your bet in a pub, as so many Brits did at the time. Done's was a betting shop where drinks were served (not as good as in pubs), but also business-friendly shop talk (much better than in pubs). No wonder he didn't have to send out the old-fashioned show float to attract customers. By 1985, you could find Betfred in a pretty fancy betting shop in Portsmouth, England.

With his help, Betfred not only grew in numbers, but also set a new standard for the betting shops of the future. By 1997, Betfred had over 100 betting shops across Europe and in less than three years, the number of shops had almost doubled. Done made sure that even as the company expanded, the focus remained on what was most important: customer service.

The first bookmaker to pay customers before the official results were announced was Betfred. In March 1998, Betfred paid all customers who had bet on Manchester United to win the Premier League. This was one of Betfred's better known promotions as the game ended after midweek when most people had already completed their betting for the weekend. Betfred supervisor Brian Wright said at the time, "Our accountant may have gone mad, but it didn't seem right to make our customers wait until the result was announced on TV. This was another case of Betfred not being too far off with their predictions.

Continuing to Expand (Betfred.com is Born)

Betfred grew steadily, expanding to more than 500 betting shops by March 2005. During this time, Done became excited about another growth opportunity: the online gambling market. He assembled a group of professionals to develop Betfred.com, which his loyal customers couldn't wait to visit when it opened in 2004. (Me too; as far as I know, I'm the only English professor to have taught a class of students how to win at sports betting).

Since its inception, Betfred has been committed to ensuring that its customers gamble responsibly. That's why they felt it necessary to put this on their website.

Our customer support teams are trained to deal with all aspects of responsible gaming, and they can give you sound advice if you ask for it. For example, you and they may decide together 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 gambling is under control or mostly in the not-so-fun-even-if-you-win range. They will also tell you not to set the limit too high. If you must have a number, try half of what a not-so-rich friend of yours could keep in a wallet.

They provided a list of preventive measures a person can take to ensure that a gambling problem does not develop.

Betfred.com offers a wide range of services, including online casinos. Here are some of the things offered on their site: - A collection of slot games. - Live dealer games that give players an authentic casino experience. - In-play sports betting that allows players to bet on games as they happen. - Virtual bingo with chat features. - Online poker with players from around the world joining the tables at any time. And that's just the casino side of things! Betfred also offers betting opportunities on a wide variety of 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!

A very unique aspect of their site is the weekly release of the Goals Galore bonus coupon. This allows players to pick 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 evidenced by the recent launch of the highly successful "Goals Galore" coupon. Customers now take part in a game of sorts, where they select five out of a whole series of upcoming games and predict the score for those games. More specifically, they have to pick five games and predict that both teams in those games will score. It's a pretty good bet that most customers don't even consider the actual scores when making their picks.

Two years after the launch of the Betfred website, Betfred has ventured into a mobile version of their site, allowing players to access their site while on the go. Players operate with the same bankroll and are offered all the same bonuses and promotions as on the website.

Another method Betfred used to grow was the purchase of The Tote in 2011. In doing so, it acquired all 517 of their shops for around $400 million. This foray into the racing industry has proven to be extremely fortunate for Betfred.com. It has attracted a different kind of punter to their site. The Tote itself has been around 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 you can think of including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Google Plus and Twitter can now be found on Betfred. In fact, Betfred has several different Twitter accounts that highlight specific aspects of their site, such as a page for golf fans and a page for bingo players. These Betfred accounts don't just keep you up to date with the latest in the gaming world. They will also let you in on any 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 praised for its clever use of social media to attract new users to its platform. For that they won.

Sponsorships & Charities

Betfred is one of the main sponsors associated with the Sheffield and Kinsley Greyhound Stadium, the Nottingham Greyhound Stadium and the Owenton Stadium. They also sponsored the World Snooker Championship for four years from 2009 to 2012. After a short hiatus, Betfred has decided to re-up and partner with the event in 2015. For more information and insight into these various partnerships, please read the sections below.

Betfred's sanctioned charity is the Jack Berry House of the Injured Jockey Fund. This worthy foundation has one goal: to raise sufficient funds to open a modern, world-class rehabilitation facility for injured jockeys. This facility will provide all the medical services necessary to nurse a fallen rider back to health.

This rehabilitation center will include a gym with equipment for traditional physical therapy and a swimming pool for hydrotherapy. Specialists will be hired to run these facilities and provide educational programs for all current and aspiring jockeys who wish to learn more about proper nutrition, injury management, sports psychology and other topics that will help prevent serious injuries in the future.

Betfred has contributed to various other local and international organizations such as the Harley Slack Fund, Killing Cancer, Manchester Children's Hospital, Northern Racing College and the Retired Greyhound Trust to name a few.

Betfred in Recent News

In 2014, Betfred announced that it was joining forces with the World Snooker Championship, which will now be called the Betfred World Snooker Championship - at least until 2017. The competition, which always takes place at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield from late April to early May, has a first prize of more than $460,000. Betfred expects that this relatively high profile event, with an estimated audience of over 300 million in 80 different countries, will bring them much needed publicity.

Betfred has recently received some media attention for their new Summer Sizzler bonus offer. On their website you can see them promoting this new bonus alongside a handful of other enticing summer promotions. And why not take advantage of the opportunity to promote these sizzling summer bonuses? With a jam-packed summer schedule of must-see sporting events, including but certainly not limited to the ones listed below, Betfred is offering plenty of deals that are oh-so-sweet for sports fans.

Participants are also going crazy for the chance to win a weekend for two in Dublin every time they play the Irish Lotto on the site this July. It's very rare that you hear of an online casino giving away luxury trips as prizes, but it's something that Betfred has really focused on over the past few years and we're certainly looking forward to seeing it expand in the future.