Flutter to cut more than 1,000 jobs after UK gambling tax rises

Flutter, the owner of Paddy Power, Sky Bet and FanDuel, announced on Tuesday that it will reduce about 15% of its workforce in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The restructuring could affect up to 1,400 employees.

The company said the move is intended to cushion the impact of steep tax increases on online gambling announced in last November's UK Budget. Affected, according to the company, are its offices in Leeds and Dublin as well as staff in the UK and Ireland at international locations, including in Portugal and Romania.

Flutter's UK and Ireland business employs around 9,000 people, while the group as a whole has about 28,500 employees. The announcement comes only a few weeks after Dan Taylor took over as CEO of Flutter from long-serving chief executive Peter Jackson.

In the November Budget, then finance minister Rachel Reeves raised the duty on remote bets from 15 to 25 percent from April 2027. She also increased the remote gaming duty that applies to online casino games from 21 to 40 percent. Reeves said she had directed her tax rises at the online gambling sector because it was associated with the highest levels of harm.

Kevin Harrington, head of Flutter in the UK and Ireland, said the previous year's tax increases had "fundamentally changed the economic model of the regulated betting and gambling industry in Great Britain". He added that Flutter could not "fully absorb an increase of this magnitude without reducing the fixed cost base". The company puts the costs associated with the reorganisation at $80m to $90m.

Flutter announced the planned job cuts eight days before the next UK Budget. The Financial Times had previously reported that finance minister John Healey is considering an increase in Machine Gaming Duty, the tax on gaming machines. Shares in the New York-listed group have fallen by more than 60 percent this year.