Why independent bookies are up against it, with Greg Knight of Jenningsbet

Greg Knight, owner and CEO of Jenningsbet, runs 213 betting shops, the largest independent estate in the UK. He tells The Gambling Files why racing media rights have become his biggest cost pressure, one that the host notes nobody is really talking about, and what else is squeezing independent shops.

In this episode

• Knight says the two racing content services combined cost about £40,000 a shop a year five years ago and now sit just below £70,000, which he puts at £6 million in extra costs over five years (10:31).

• Content is bundled, with too many greyhound races of three, four or five runners, and dropping a provider means he cannot even take bets on its races (15:10).

• He says William Hill and Betfred tested the provider TRP last year and had their pictures switched off; with most contracts renewing in 2028, he expects to choose one service (33:48).

• Rent would not make his top 20 cost pressures; instead he wants business rates scrapped and a 2% point-of-sale tax online and in retail (41:59).

• He concedes too many shops clustered in some areas but says bookies are "certainly not responsible" for the high street's decline (48:39).

• Jenningsbet traded online as a white label from 2002 to 2022 and stopped, he says, when compliance and regulation made it not worth doing for a tier-two or tier-three business (52:59).

Episode from The Gambling Files (RTFM) by Jon Bruford and Fintan Costello, published on YouTube.