Flutter job cuts to hit up to 1,400 UK and Ireland roles as gambling tax rises

Flutter Entertainment plans to cut up to 1,400 jobs in its UK and Ireland business, a restructuring announced to the market on Tuesday, 20 October and blamed on the UK gambling tax rises set out in last year's Autumn Budget.

The Flutter job cuts are subject to consultation and will fall on staff in Leeds and Dublin, as well as UK and Ireland roles based at the group's hubs in Porto, Portugal, and Cluj-Napoca, Romania, iGB reported. GamblingNews also lists Malta among the affected locations. Employees were being notified from Tuesday, and Flutter expects to complete most of the restructuring by the end of 2026, according to Casino.org.

Flutter employs about 28,500 people worldwide, roughly 9,000 of them in the UK and Ireland. The 1,400 figure works out at about 15% of that local workforce, though GamblingNews put the share at up to 16%. A Flutter spokesperson told iGB the cuts would reach "across every function" of the company.

Betfair Romania Development said on LinkedIn that around 300 UK and Ireland workers in Cluj-Napoca are set to be affected, SBC News reported.

Flutter put the cost of implementing the measures at $80m to $90m, mainly severance payments and employee benefits, to be recognised in the fourth quarter of 2026. SBC News noted the company said that figure was already captured in the guidance issued with its second quarter results.

Why Flutter says the tax rise forced the cuts

Kevin Harrington, chief executive of Flutter UK and Ireland, said support for affected staff was his first priority.

"My immediate focus is providing the necessary support for all of our impacted colleagues and guiding our teams through what we know is going to be a difficult and challenging period for all concerned," he said.

He was blunt about the cause. "The material increase in betting and gaming duties announced in the UK Budget last year has fundamentally changed the economic model of the regulated betting and gaming industry in the UK while helping to fuel the unlicensed, unregulated market," Harrington said.

"As we warned a year ago, we cannot fully absorb a rise of this magnitude without reducing our fixed cost base and therefore must restructure our business so that we can best position ourselves for the future," he said, adding that Flutter remains "well placed to benefit from share gains given our position as the largest scale operator in the UK".

The link between higher duties and the unlicensed market is Flutter's argument. The statements quoted here do not include data for it.

How much the tax rises cost Flutter

Last year's Budget raised remote gaming duty from 21% to 40%, effective 1 April 2026. General betting duty is scheduled to rise from 15% to 25% in April 2027.

Flutter has estimated the changes would reduce its adjusted EBITDA by $540m in 2027, and said it expects to offset $201m of that through initial cost cutting, which includes this restructuring. The pressure already shows in the accounts: in its Q2 results in August, Flutter said the UK tax rise had contributed to a 45% fall in adjusted EBITDA for the quarter, Casino.org reported. UK and Ireland revenue still rose 4% year on year to $971m, according to SBC News.

The rest of the market is cutting too

• Betfred said in August it would close up to 132 shops and cut more than 600 jobs.
• Evoke shut about 200 William Hill shops, roughly 15% of its retail estate.
• Bet365 announced around 340 job cuts last month, citing "tax-related costs".
• Entain said in September it would cut 400 customer care roles.

Flutter itself said in September it was considering closing up to 100 Paddy Power shops, putting about 400 jobs at risk.

The Budget is due next week

The next test for the sector is the Budget. Speculation has built that machine games duty could double to 40%, after the Social Market Foundation, a think tank, urged the government to raise it on higher-risk Category B machines. Ninety Labour MPs signed a letter to Chancellor Jon Healey, written by Alex Ballinger, calling for the increase, SBC News reported.

Betfred owner Fred Done told the Financial Times in September that further tax rises could lead to widespread shop closures and the near-elimination of the UK's retail betting market, iGB reported.

The announcement also comes weeks after Dan Taylor, formerly chief executive of Flutter International, replaced Peter Jackson as group CEO. Harrington reported directly to Taylor when Taylor ran the UK and Ireland division.

None of the reports cited here included a response from unions or from the Gambling Commission. The redundancies remain subject to consultation, and Flutter has said most of the process should be finished by the end of 2026. The Budget follows next week.