BetFred tycoons ‘are making a fortune’ from gambling addiction services paid for by taxpayers 

Betting tycoons ‘are making a fortune’ from gambling addiction services paid for by taxpayers 

  • Fred and Peter Done own BetFred as well as a company that provides counselling
  • Their firm, Health Assured, advertises help for problems including gambling 
  • Labour MP Angela Eagle has said that it is an ‘awful conflict of interest’

The billionaire owners of BetFred are making millions from gambling addiction services paid for by taxpayers.

Brothers Fred and Peter Done also own a company that provides counselling to staff across the public sector. 

Their firm Health Assured has contracts worth at least £2.5million with dozens of NHS Trusts and councils. 

Peter Done

Brothers Fred (left) and Peter Done (right) own BetFred as well as a company that provides counselling to staff across the public sector

They advertise help for problems including gambling and depression.

The Done brothers have taken £5.2million in dividends from the business in the past three years, the Guardian reported.

But Labour MP Angela Eagle said it was an ‘awful conflict of interest’ and gambling firms should be ‘nowhere near our health services’.

Labour MP Angela Eagle (pictured) said it was an 'awful conflict of interest' and gambling firms should be 'nowhere near our health services'

Labour MP Angela Eagle (pictured) said it was an ‘awful conflict of interest’ and gambling firms should be ‘nowhere near our health services’

BetFred is one of the UK’s biggest gambling companies, making £728million last year.

Health Assured is run as an entirely separate business but they are both ultimately owned by the Done brothers.

A Health Assured spokesman said: ‘All public sector contracts we have been awarded have thorough due diligence carried out before are they issued.’ 

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