Flutter to axe up to 1,400 jobs after UK gambling tax hikes
Flutter, the parent company of Paddy Power, announced on Tuesday that it will cut as many as 1,400 positions as it struggles to absorb recent tax increases on the gambling sector. The reductions will mainly affect employees in Leeds and Dublin, as well as staff supporting the UK and Ireland operations at Flutter’s sites in Portugal and Romania, although the company did not specify which roles are at risk.
The tax changes, introduced in last year’s Budget, raise duties on online casino and sports betting while leaving horse racing exempt. Kevin Harrington, chief executive of Flutter’s UK and Ireland business, said the new levies have “fundamentally changed” the economic model of the industry and have helped “fuel the unlicensed, unregulated market.” He added, “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.”
Flutter, which also owns Sky Bet and Betfair, employs about 28,500 people worldwide, including roughly 9,000 in the United Kingdom and Ireland. In addition to Leeds and Dublin, the BBC reports that the cuts could reach employees in London, Sunderland, Malta and Gibraltar.
A government spokesperson said the job reductions are a commercial decision made by Flutter and not a directive from the UK government, adding that the company’s move will be “a difficult time for the workers.”
Flutter was removed from the London Stock Exchange in August, leaving its shares to trade only in New York. In its latest financial release, the group posted a pre‑tax loss of $299 million (£224 million) for the three months to June, a swing from a $205 million profit in the same period a year earlier. Revenue grew 3 percent to $4.3 billion, with UK and Ireland sales up 4 percent thanks to strong performance in online gambling games.
The tax increases took effect in April. Remote gaming duty on online casino betting rose from 21 percent to 40 percent, while general betting duty remains at 15 percent for betting shops but will climb to 25 percent for online bets in April next year. Betting firms have warned that the higher costs could trigger job losses and the closure of betting shops, a claim that some MPs dismissed as “scaremongering.” Earlier this summer, Entain, the owner of Ladbrokes, announced the removal of 500 roles.
In the UK, winnings from gambling are not subject to income tax and bets are not charged VAT. Flutter estimates that the restructuring programme will cost between $80 million and $90 million. The company has previously projected that the UK tax hikes will shave $320 million from its underlying profit this year and $540 million by 2027, before any cost‑saving measures are applied.