Flutter Entertainment plans to cut up to 1,400 jobs across its UK&I business, with Leeds and Dublin facing the largest reductions. The restructuring comes three weeks into Dan Taylor’s tenure as group CEO and follows a sharp increase in UK gambling taxes.
Remote gaming duty rose from 21% to 40% in April, while remote betting duty is scheduled to increase from 15% to 25% in April 2027. Flutter expects the changes to reduce adjusted EBITDA by $540 million in 2027.
UK&I CEO Kevin Harrington said the tax increases had “fundamentally changed” the economic models of regulated operators. “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.
Cuts across UK&I and offshore teams
More than 450 roles are understood to be at risk in Leeds, where Flutter employs around 1,700 people, although not all are expected to be eliminated. In Dublin, around 240 jobs are under threat, concentrated at the Clonskeagh headquarters, which has 1,770 employees. Affected staff work in finance, HR, technology, training and legal, and will be offered voluntary redundancy.
Betfair Romania Development said around 300 employees in its UK&I teams in Cluj-Napoca are expected to leave when the process ends. Local business consultant Doru Șupeală put the figure at 350-400 and warned of a “Hunger Games” if voluntary departures are insufficient. UK&I staff in Porto are also affected.
The proposed cuts amount to almost 16% of Flutter’s 9,000-strong UK&I workforce. Its retail estate is excluded from this restructuring. Last month, the group announced plans to close up to 100 Paddy Power shops, putting 400 jobs at risk; individual betting shops in Ireland will not be affected by the latest cuts.
Taylor’s first major move
Taylor officially succeeded Peter Jackson on 1 October. He previously led Flutter’s international division and became group president in May, with responsibility for addressing underperforming US operations. He also led Paddy Power Betfair from 2018 to 2020.
The cuts come as Flutter’s share price has fallen more than 65% over the past 12 months. The group also faces competition from prediction markets including Kalshi and Polymarket, while Brazil has imposed a temporary block on online betting.
Harrington said his immediate priority was supporting affected colleagues through “a difficult and challenging period for all concerned”. He said Flutter could not absorb the tax rise without reducing fixed costs, but maintained that the UK’s largest operator was well placed to gain market share. The restructuring will cost $80-$90 million (€70-€80 million), booked in Q4 2026, and Flutter says the savings will help protect investment in its customer proposition.
The announcement comes a week before the UK budget, amid speculation that machine games duty could double to 40%. Ninety Labour MPs have called on the chancellor to raise the rate on Category B machines. Betting and Gaming Council CEO Grainne Hurst called the redundancies “another devastating blow to workers and families across our sector” and urged ministers to consider the regulated sector’s existing pressures before imposing further tax increases.
