Flutter Entertainment plans to cut over 1,400 jobs

Amid the increasing tax burden on the UK gambling industry, the Flutter Entertainment has announced its intention to cut up to 1,400 jobs. The group announced to restructure its business. This decision follows the announcement of tax increases on the UK betting and gambling sector, which was included in last year’s Autumn Budget. Fluuter mentiones that planned cottings can affect staff in Leeds and Dublin and include UK&I roles based in offshore hubs such as Porto and Cluj‑Napoca. The estimated cost of implementing these measures is between $80 and $90 million, and the implementation is projected for the fourth quarter of 2026. Flutter employs about 28,500 people worldwide. It has approximately 9,000 employees working in its operations in Ireland and the UK. Flutter’s UK and Ireland CEO Kevin 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. We remain confident that we are well placed to benefit from share gains given our position as the largest scale operator in the UK. The announcement from Flutter comes after a challenging year for UK gambling companies that are dealing with increased taxes and stricter regulations. During the Autumn Budget last year, the then-chancellor Rachael Reeves revealed that remote gaming tax would almost double from 21% to 40%. This hike became applicable from 1 April of this year, while the remote betting tax at 25% (presently at 15%) will kick in by April 2027. The UK government also granted additional powers to local authorities to stop the opening of retail gambling venues. These measures have led to a wave of cost-cutting measures in the industry. Amid the tax increase, Betfred already announced the closure of 132 betting shops which can lead to 600 employees too become jobless. Evoke also closed over 200 William Hills shops. The upcoming budget announcement is creating anticipation within the UK betting market. There is increasing speculation regarding the possibility of a rise in machines games duty (MGD) to 40%, following the Social Market Foundation’s call for the government to raise the MGD on high-risk Category B machines. Last week, a group of Labour MPs, led by Alex Ballinger, wrote to UK Chancellor Jon Healey requesting that the proposed rise in MGD be included in his budget.