Betfred has become a household name in recent decades – one that is synonymous with the gambling industry. The brand’s reach is increasing internationally but – naturally – it is the UK where it is best known. In 2023, owners Fred and Peter Done, and family were the nation’s fifth-biggest taxpayers thanks to turnover generated by the operator (bet365 owners Denise, John and Peter Coates came second in the list). It is Fred Done, formerly the operator’s CEO and now Chairman, who has been both the voice and face of the brand over the years. But since her appointment as CEO in April 2021, it is now Joanne Whittaker that is taking the business forward and managing the day-to-day operations. And, as Gambling Insider gets into our discussion with the CEO, it does not take long to form a picture of how she and Done work together. Suffice it to say polite agreements do not sit high on the Betfred priority list. Whittaker is a big believer in using friction to create fire: “Fred and I have got a fantastic relationship. We’ve never fallen out,” she reflects. “But we get into lots of arguments... I think you’ve got to get into debates and heated discussions to really get to the right outcome for the customer.”
Whittaker’s Betfred journey began two decades ago. With a background in programming, the now-CEO initially oversaw the company’s IT department. Back then, Betfred had 500 shops (it is now well beyond 1,300) and Done asked Whittaker to join the organisation to roll out its EPOS (Electric Point of Sale) system. At the time, Betfred was a far cry from the company it is today; it was “very much a small bookmaker” and had only recently launched its online call centre. In fact, after helping bolster the company’s technological systems, Whittaker expressed her desire to step away from the brand and run her own business – ironically just as its estate began to grow at pace. Here, her Betfred journey had not ended – but it would take one or two detours.
Regulation is really important for our sector. I try and embrace it. I think we’ve had a culture and mindset shift within Betfred since I started... it is too easy to blame regulation, saying it’s the problem and it’s everybody else’s fault
There and back again
Leaving Betfred, however, did not equate to leaving her working relationship with Done. Far from it. In 2005, Done provided Whittaker with a £100,000 ($127,000) loan in return for 25% of her new company, Fideliti. What was Fideliti? Humbly, Whittaker describes her idea, which found a gap within the market and improved on its existing offerings, as “really boring.” She explains: “I had this idea of creating a business that did childcare vouchers. I had never written a business plan. I had never run my own business. But Fred offered me a loan for 25% of the company, and we went from there.”
Fideliti became a “massively successful business that grew over seven or eight years – one of the biggest in the UK.”
The organisation’s premise is that of an ethical family-owned company, which specialises in the provision of childcare vouchers and runs Childcare Voucher Schemes designed to ‘offer maximum flexibility’ for parents and families. And yet, after a while, Whittaker came to the realisation that the business “didn’t really need” her after a certain point – not unlike Betfred in her first stint with the firm. “I developed the system. I was everything. I was the salesperson, the developer; every element of that business,” she tells Gambling Insider. “But as we grew, the team I recruited didn’t really need me, so I went back to Fred to do something else.”
Whittaker ended up creating a second business, Angel Advance, which was a debt advice service. Another organisation that still exists today, Angel Advance performed well, was “very innovative” and included offerings such as an end-to-end advice tool. The early success of those two businesses, though, showed Whittaker – to her mind – what she excelled at: coming up with an idea, getting it off the ground and leaving the right people in place to “get on with it.” With that stage taken care of for both Fideliti and Angel Advance, Whittaker’s next step would return her to familiar territory.
“Measured risks”
That next step saw Whittaker appointed Betfred CEO in April 2021, allowing Done to scale back his duties at the operator and take the role of Chair. But, in its new CEO, Betfred was not just getting the Head of IT that originally departed the business 16 years prior. Yes, Whittaker was the same detail-oriented, no-nonsense character. Years of entrepreneurship, however, brought years of experience. As Whittaker looks back, there are a number of lessons she can draw upon to this very day. “Fideliti was so long ago now. Fred lent me £100,000 and, at the time, it was such a phenomenal amount of money – it frightened the life out of me! I was probably too cautious and too slow in terms of marketing the brand and really pushing the business. We got to where we needed to in the end – and we grew it to be a massive business – but I should have been braver earlier on.”
Yet that source of potential wisdom for Whittaker does not bring with it a source of regret. In terms of financial management, Whittaker learned the hard way – i.e treating the business’ money as she would her own. And that’s because it was her own. Her experience at Fideliti has instilled a sense of financial sensibility that has stayed with Whittaker ever since. “Even at Betfred now, I treat every penny as if it’s my own and we make sensible decisions,” she says. “It’s really easy to get carried away with spending money and becoming complacent. For me, it’s really important to control the P&L, manage all costs and really question ‘do we need it? Why do we need it? And what value do we want to derive for every pound spent?’”
It is a concept best described by Whittaker’s use of the phrase “measured risks.” As an entrepreneur, she warns, you simply do not earn money if your business is not performing well. In her eyes, this “makes you understand value a lot more.” Her agreement with Done saw her forego a salary until Fideliti made a profit. “I would say you take risks, but more measured risks, because you’re still risking someone else’s money the minute you become employed. But in my opinion, you take more measured risks.” The other advantage entrepreneurship brought Whittaker is that it gave her the understanding of “every aspect of the business.” “Even as I grew the business, you’re growing it from nothing, and that was something I had to get to grips with,” she adds.
Why do people come to work? They want to be paid well, they want to be successful and most people want to advance their career. So we’re doing a lot of work in that area. We want to be the best and to be the best, you have to listen to your staff and your customers
Back to Betfred
After running her own businesses and so closely overseeing all departments, Whittaker’s Betfred return called for adjustment and adaptation. By comparison – both to Betfred’s hitherto size and her other businesses – the brand was now a “massive beast.” Whittaker therefore does not know every one of her 10,000 global employees individually – nor has she personally carried out every element of the production chain. She still likes to understand the details where she can, and aims for a certain level of understanding that enables “meaningful conversations” with employees or team leaders. Yet, in contrast to her first days as an entrepreneur, being Betfred CEO since 2021 has required an appreciation that Whittaker cannot “be in the detail of everything.” Echoing similar sentiments from Metropolitan Gaming CEO Michael Silberling, another interviewee in this year’s CEO Special, she muses: “It’s about managing my own time, but not killing myself trying to work four million hours a week to know the detail.”
Whittaker’s second spell at Betfred has centred on “the next stage of the journey” for the company. In her own words, it’s very much a handover from the Founder to someone else running the business. As such, Whittaker and Done still work closely to this day. She has “tonnes of respect” for both Done’s achievements and Betfred as a wider entity. “I've been working a lot around governance and structure, making sure we’re in the right place to run a global operation and get a bit more oversight,”Whittaker explains. “We’re working in 10 states in the US and with two businesses in South Africa, as well as UK retail and digital. So it’s about looking at that structure, what we’ve got, how we grow the business at the same time as working on our proprietary technology with our IT teams here.”
Unsurprisingly, Whittaker tells Gambling Insider that an “extremely hard-working” Done “genuinely works seven days a week.” He still holds involvement in several other businesses, as well as Betfred, and his relationship with Whittaker is one of respect but, as alluded to earlier, not one without its disagreements. These are not personal or emotional disagreements, but sources of debate that can ultimately take a business forward. Whittaker explains: “I’m the CEO and I manage all the day-to-day dealings of the business. But Fred is there for me when I’m not quite sure, or when we’re having a bad day. Fred is the voice of reason. If I’m playing through an idea in my head, he is a good sounding board. We get into lots of arguments and debates and we don’t always agree with each other. We both like to say it as it is, but we’ve never fallen out. We’ve got a fantastic relationship, and I think that comes down to mutual respect.”
Fred Done and I get into lots of arguments and debates, and we don’t always agree with each other. We both like to say it as it is, but we’ve never fallen out. We’ve got a fantastic relationship, and I think that comes down to mutual respect
“The right outcome for the customer”
Whittaker is extremely keen on having those arguments and disagreements. She won’t shy away from them. Indeed, the CEO acknowledges her role as the ship’s captain, but describes herself as a team player – and is a huge believer in collaboration rather than a follow-the-leader mentality. “I think you’ve got to get into debates and heated discussions to really get to the right outcome for the customer,” she says. “I’m not always 100% right, but I think getting into those debates, working with your team, and listening to all levels of the organisation is critical.”
With Betfred being an omnichannel – and predominantly retail – operator, Whittaker regularly gets the chance to apply this principal on an even more granular level. The CEO likes to “get into the weeds and listen to people on the ground.” She visits shops, sits with all levels of the organisation, listening to staff. “You hear terms about ‘customer centricity,’ but no one’s ever bloody listened to a call from customer services!” To find out how customers are actually getting on with Betfred staff, Whittaker will read their actual live chat conversations with customer support. Makes sense, right?
All of the above, however, is dependent on having the right staff in place – and keeping them motivated enough to perform. So, in the end, it’s a case of listening to both the staff and the customers. “I’m a great believer in people – supporting the people within our business by creating the best work environment and empowering them to drive positive change,” Whittaker comments. “We’ve got to ensure we provide the right package, create exciting career opportunities, to attract and retain the best staff. Why do people come to work? They want to be paid well, they want to be successful and most people want to advance their career. So we’re doing a lot of work in that area. We want to be the best and to be the best, you have to listen to your staff and your customers. You have to look at where you are good, and where you are not good – and then fix the things you’re not good at. That’s what we’re doing.”
Agility vs scale
Whittaker is “just really proud” when she thinks of those she has worked with during her Betfred journey to date. The organisation, employees, brand itself and the work put in by Done all leave the executive beaming as she tells us: “The fact that I’ve been chosen to take that brand forward and protect the legacy... That’s really easy to do when you’ve got fantastic people working with the organisation. It’s not an easy job overall – but it’s a lot easier because of all those people around. You can’t do it on your own.”
Of course, here the Betfred CEO hits the nail on the head. Added to the pressures Whittaker faced as a Founder at Fideliti and Angel Advance, in her current role the exec is leading a tier-one gambling operator competing within a dynamic tech industry. And the hardest part of the job for Whittaker relates directly to that technological aspect. “We’ve had lots of technology restraints,” she states. “When we’re in an organisation, we talk about being agile, but we just can’t deliver things as quickly as we want sometimes, and that gets frustrating because you want to be innovative. In my own businesses, we were able to come up with an idea and get it out the following day. Once you get to an organisation of the scale of Betfred’s, I find that pretty tricky. Everything takes longer.”
Improving this specific area of the business is obviously a priority for Whittaker and, in the immediate term, Betfred does have what it hopes to be a solution. Indeed, its new technology platform has launched, giving the operator the “bedrock” to move faster and “really start to deliver.” It’s a topic Whittaker feels strongly about, to the point where she somewhat refutes Gambling Insider’s suggestion that regulation is an added hurdle brought about by having scale. “It can be seen to be like that, but we are where we are with regulation,” Whittaker responds. “Regulation is really important for our sector. I try and embrace it. I think we’ve had a culture and mindset shift within Betfred since I started. We have embraced regulation and we’re looking at ways to be innovative in that area. Rather than seeing it as a barrier, we’re looking at how we can flip it on its head, innovate and lead. Again, our new technology platform will give us the ability to do that.”
Even at Betfred now, I treat every penny as if it’s my own and we make sensible decisions. It’s really easy to get carried away with spending money and becoming complacent. For me, it’s really important to control the P&L, manage all costs and really question ‘do we need it? Why do we need it? And what value do we want to derive for every pound spent?’
The UK, US and South Africa
Refreshingly, Whittaker believes it is too easy to blame regulation or claim that “that’s the problem and it’s everybody else’s fault.” While it has not been a “smooth journey” for the sector, and the UK is an imperfect market (what market isn’t?), the Betfred CEO is keen to defend the Gambling Commission, a regulator she believes is actively working with the market to move it in the right direction. That direction is a “really exciting” prospect for Betfred and Whittaker, as she states: “The launch of our new platform enables us to start increasing market share and making a dent in the UK market.”
Inevitably, Whittaker must also look beyond the UK. In the US, Kresimir Spajic was recently appointed Betfred USA CEO, bringing with him experience of North American markets at the likes of Hard Rock International and Great Canadian Entertainment. In another highly competitive landscape – “it’s not an easy place to be!” Whittaker quips – Betfred is looking to define what the brand stands for within the US and map out its strategic approach. In South Africa, meanwhile, Whittaker is encouraged by the “fantastic job” the Betfred brand has done with its retail arm. Similarly, Betfred appointed a new CEO for its South Africa division in December 2023: Lawrence Azar. “It’s all about watching his journey as we get that digital brand off the ground. For LottoStar, our other South African brand, it’s about continuing to watch that grow. It’s beaten all targets and is growing year-on-year, so it’s exciting to stay on that journey.” Hopes are high, then, for Whittaker and Betfred as 2024 simultaneously presents its various challenges and opportunities. What Gambling Insider holds no doubts about, though, after our conversation with the Betfred exec, is that Whittaker will continue “saying it as it is” to navigate the ongoing balance of technological progress, agility and sensible financial decision making. Industry growth will remain a constant – as shall the demands that are placed on Whittaker’s team and operators like Betfred. But so too, no doubt, will the CEO’s determination to keep up, her attention to detail and her desire to do right by the customer. Along with the odd heated debate – although that’s perfectly fine in Whittaker’s book.
