Dark Spiral

What is Dark Spiral?

“I believe that by 2030 we will have no betting shops. The high street will be dead. We’ve already worked it out that with the increases in taxes and salaries and other wages it won’t be worth operating,” he said.

Betfred currently sponsors Britain’s five classic horse races, including the Epsom Derby. Done said the company had yet to agree on extending those sponsorships amid the tax uncertainty, warning that reduced regulated gambling provision could push problem gamblers towards the black market.

He also pushed back against claims by Dame Meg Hillier, chair of the Treasury Select Committee, who has characterised some industry warnings as “scaremongering”.

What is Dark Spiral?

Great Britain’s gambling industry generated £17.5 billion ($23.4 billion) in gross gambling yield (GGY) during FY2026, a 4.4% increase from the previous year.

Excluding lotteries, the Gambling Commission reported that GGY rose 4.7% to £13.2 billion ($17.7 billion) between April 2025 and March 2026.

Growth was strongest online, where remote casino, betting, and bingo GGY climbed 6.9% to £8.3 billion ($11.1 billion), compared with a modest 1.1% increase across land-based sectors.

What is Dark Spiral?

Leicester City vs. Slavia Prague (Agg 0-0) (8pm GMT kick-off)

Even more finely balanced is this last 32 clash between the surprise package of this season’s Premier League and a side who crashed out of the Champions League at the Qualifying Round stage, losing 4-1 to Midtjylland. That came after a 0-0 first leg result back in Prague and having lost  Tomáš Souček and Vladimír Coufal to West Ham in 2020, Slavia look a shadow of their former selves.

The action from the first leg was not the most sparkling that either side have produced during the season but hinted at the areas Leicester can exploit back at the King Power Stadium.