Online bookmaker BetFred, the largest independent bookmaker in the world, was in the news recently, as owner Fred Done won an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. The BetFred Chief Excessive put the award down to the bookie’s ambition in pushing forward, and their persistence in getting their hands on the state-owned Tote last year. It was his persistence in getting the deal done to win the auction for the Tote for over £250 million last July that really made him stand out. Done said that it was a battle against the class of his working roots against the city bigwigs, and it was his hard work which prevailed.
Back in 1967 Done opened a betting shop and now, over forty years later, he has 1,350 BetFred shops on the high streets of Britain. It has been a big rise, and Fred Done says that he has always taken risks to try and push ahead, and that is exactly the thing which has seen the BetFred brand grow so much. They have pushed hard as well with the BetFred online betting services, making them one of the most popular betting sites in the UK. Even through the tough times of the economy, Done insists that optimism, confidence and hard work can help business survive.
