Betfred Bookmaker Review

Interesting fact: The company name for tax purposes is Petfre limited. The first three letters of the two brothers names.

Although its name would have you believe there is a single founder – Betfred was actually founded by two brothers Peter and Fred Done.

The ownership is shared although these days Peter runs his own Consulting business in Salford and Fred concentrates on running the bookmaker.

Both are the sons of a Bookmaker and they became managers in their fathers business until in 1969 they had an opportunity to buy a bookies on Cromwell Road in Salford. At the time Peter was 21 and Fred 26.

The owner, Billy Fletcher, wanted £5,000 for the business but the Done brothers only had £1,000 each. They managed to do a deal where they bought the shop and promised to pay the outstanding debt over the next couple of years.

They did better than that: The brothers concentrated on providing outstanding service and they quickly grew the company increasing turnover from £3,000 a week to £10,000. They paid back the 3k they owed to Fletcher within six months.

From this start they then went on to buy a second shop in Salford.

In 1997, Done opened his 100th shop and eight years later, his 500th.

In June 2011 the Government auctioned off and privatised “the tote” – the only legal racecourse bookie and Betfred won the rights taking the number of retail outlets to over 1350.

Fred Done was the first ever bookmaker to pay out early, when back in March 1998 he paid out punters who had backed Manchester United to win the Premier League, only for Arsenal to pip United by one point. Betfred also paid out early again on Manchester United to win the 2011/12 Premier League title, only for Manchester City to beat them.

These two publicity stunts have cost the bookmaker over £1 million in bets that they needn’t have paid out but the publicity has been incalculable.

Betfred sponsor Haydock Park Racecourse including the Group 1 Betfred Sprint Cup in September. They have an on course betting shop at the North West track. Betfred also sponsor races at Kempton Park Racecourse and provide an on course betting facility.

Betfred are main sponsors at both Nottingham Greyhound Stadium and Owlerton Stadium, Sheffield. They are the official betting partner of Wembley National Stadium and operate betting booths for all England and Football Association matches.

Betfred.com are also the current sponsors of the World Snooker Championship held at the Crucible Theatre Sheffield each year.

Betfred is one of the true industry innovators always coming up with value bets that capture the public imagination. For example the “all teams to score” bet is one of my favourites and one we narrowly missed out on a few weeks ago.

Highlights:

• For the varied special offers, “bet of the day” and many other promotions this is a bookmaker that you should definitely use often to increase your value betting.
• Best horse racing odds guaranteed.
• Strong horse racing and greyhound coverage.
• Superb "football predictor" stats and analysis software.

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