Flutter Plans 1,400 Job Cuts as UK Gambling Tax Changes Raise Costs

Flutter is planning to cut as many as 1,400 jobs across its UK and Ireland division, a reduction of around 15 per cent of that workforce. The company says higher UK gambling taxes have changed the economics of operating its betting and gaming businesses, putting pressure on costs across a division that employs 8,960 people.

The proposed redundancies span Leeds and Dublin, along with teams in Portugal and Romania that support the UK business. Flutter owns Paddy Power, Sky Bet, Betfair and Tombola. The scale and geography of the planned cuts show how tax changes aimed at the UK market can affect support operations outside it, too.

Kevin Harrington, Flutter’s UK and Ireland chief executive, said the industry “cannot fully absorb a rise of this magnitude without reducing our fixed cost base”. He said recent increases had “fundamentally changed the economic model of the regulated betting and gaming industry in the UK while helping to fuel the unlicensed, unregulated market”.

Tax changes and the cost base

The company attributes its decision to the significant increase in UK gambling taxes announced in last year’s Autumn Budget. The charge cited in the article rose from 21 per cent to 40 per cent, with the change taking effect this April. Bookmakers are also preparing for a planned increase in the levy on profits, from 15 per cent to 25 per cent in April 2027.

Those changes affect the costs operators face in the UK market. For a business with a large workforce and a network of customer-facing locations, higher tax bills can sharpen pressure to review staffing, property and other fixed expenses. Flutter’s announced reductions are one response; the company’s position is that the sector cannot absorb the full increase without cutting costs.

The timing of the planned 2027 increase is also relevant to companies making decisions now. Flutter previously warned that the tax changes would cost it £400m from April 2027, and said it would need to find ways to reduce costs. That estimate gives a sense of the financial pressure the company expects, although the article does not detail how the figure breaks down across its brands or operations.

There is also a potential tension between higher taxes on regulated operators and activity shifting to unlicensed sites. The Office for Budget Responsibility warned in November 2025 that movement towards illegal gambling websites following tax increases could reduce the expected tax take by around £500m. That estimate points to uncertainty about how customers respond, while the scale of any shift remains a factor rather than a confirmed outcome.

Jobs, shops and other operators

Flutter’s job plan comes alongside a separate review of 100 Paddy Power betting shops announced last month, which put around 400 jobs at risk. The company said those shops are not affected by the latest redundancy announcement. The two plans therefore involve different parts of the business and should not be treated as a single tally of confirmed losses.

Other betting companies have also announced cuts or closures. William Hill closed 270 shops in April. Betfred announced 132 closures in July, affecting 600 workers. Bet365 unveiled around 340 redundancies in September, while Entain, owner of Ladbrokes, proposed cutting 400 customer service jobs. These actions suggest the pressure is being felt across operators, though the measures vary between shop closures, proposed reductions and announced redundancies.

Six gambling executives, including Harrington, wrote to the Chancellor last week urging him against further tax increases and asking for next year’s planned betting duty rise to be halted. They warned that further changes could lead to as many as 15,9000 job losses, alongside 1,470 shop closures and 34 casino closures. Those figures are the executives’ warning about possible outcomes, not a tally of losses that have already occurred.

What the figures show

Flutter’s share price has fallen 64.5 per cent since the start of the year and was trading at $77.3 (£57.8), according to the article. That decline is a measure of the market’s valuation of the company over the stated period; the source does not attribute the entire move to the tax changes or provide a comparison with other listed operators.

For employees, the immediate question is which roles will be removed across the affected locations. For customers and local communities, the wider issue is whether cost reductions and shop reviews change the availability of in-person betting services. For the industry, the next measures to watch are the planned April 2027 duty increase, companies’ responses to it, and whether the shift toward unlicensed sites proves large enough to affect the projected tax take.