Coolbet identifies 131 Tallinn roles for possible redundancy

Coolbet has identified 131 positions at its Tallinn-based group company VG Estonia as potentially affected by proposed redundancies, the company's chief operating officer told a media report. The operator has notified Estonia's Unemployment Insurance Fund (Töötukassa) of its plans, according to the report. The consultation is expected to continue throughout November, and the company said it could not yet confirm an exact end date.

VG Estonia's workforce numbers more than 360 people, so the proposed redundancies could reach almost half of the company's staff in Estonia. Coolbet has approximately 1,000 employees around the world. The company said the restructuring was meant to secure its long-term sustainability and competitiveness, and it listed several contributing factors, including “business challenges, weaker than expected results in the B2B side and growing regulatory and tax pressure in several of our markets”.

Reportedly, Tallinn employees learned of the proposals on Monday (26 October) during an all-hands meeting, where management highlighted difficulties in the B2B business. People with knowledge of the restructuring indicated that development, IT and B2B account for the bulk of the positions at risk, though certain service roles such as customer support are included too. The B2B operation, and its US arm in particular, is reported to have fallen short of expectations across the past 12–18 months, whereas the B2C side is described as performing better.

Sega Sammy has owned Coolbet since the Japanese company finished buying GAN, the operator's parent, in 2025. When asked if the ownership change had any bearing on the restructuring, Graham told NEXT.io that Coolbet's "strategic direction is aligned with the broader group's long-term priorities". According to him, the reorganisation is a response to the need to fit operations to present business realities and shifting market conditions.

Coolbet stated that it understands the proposed changes will have an effect on its staff and that it will handle the whole process in a responsible way, treating everyone involved with respect. Graham told NEXT.io that the cuts are "not related to anything specific regarding Estonia as a gambling market or a business operations location"; instead, as he put it, "the areas of the business impacted at this time happen to be based in Estonia". He added that the company's headquarters stays in Tallinn, and that Estonia remains a key market for Coolbet as a business and for the brand as a B2C gaming market.

The restructuring is set against a wider wave of job losses in the industry. Flutter announced on 20 October that as many as 1,400 positions could go across its UK and Ireland division, about 16% of the regional workforce, with the company pointing to higher Remote Gaming Duty and General Betting Duty in the UK. Meanwhile, in Brazil, the sector has shed thousands of jobs since fixed-odds betting and online casinos were banned on 25 September.

Estonia, which is trying to position itself as Europe's next iGaming hub, started reducing its gambling tax from 6% to 4% last year. That approach hit an early snag this year, when a drafting error meant online casinos went untaxed for a short period.