Leeds and Dublin will bear the brunt of Flutter Entertainment’s plan to cut up to 1,400 jobs across its UK&I business. The restructuring comes just three weeks into Dan Taylor’s tenure as group CEO.
Remote gaming duty rose from 21% to 40% in April. Remote betting duty is due to climb from 15% to 25% in April 2027. Flutter expects the changes to cost $540 million in adjusted EBITDA in 2027.
Flutter’s UK&I CEO Kevin Harrington highlighted the impact of the rise in UK taxes, saying they had “fundamentally changed” the economic models of regulated operators in the market. The plans to cut jobs at such a dramatic level is a direct consequence of the tax hikes, said Harrington.
“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,” Harrington said.
‘Hunger games’
More than 450 roles are understood to be at risk in Leeds, where Flutter employs around 1,700 people, the Yorkshire Evening Post has reported. Not all of those roles are expected to go. In Dublin, around 240 jobs are under threat, according to RTÉ. Those cuts are concentrated at the group’s Clonskeagh headquarters, which employs 1,770 people. The affected staff work across finance, HR, technology, training and legal, and will be offered voluntary redundancy.
The offshore hubs are not spared. Betfair Romania Development said around 300 employees in its UK&I teams in Cluj-Napoca are set to leave once the process concludes. Local business consultant Doru Șupeală claimed the real figure is closer to 350-400, and warned of a “Hunger Games” if voluntary departures fall short. UK&I staff in Porto are also affected.
Reuters said the cuts make Flutter the latest, and largest, operator to shed jobs as the UK sector grapples with the most significant tax overhaul in its recent history. Up to 1,400 roles equates to almost 16% of the 9,000-strong UK&I workforce.
Flutter’s retail estate is not part of this round. Last month the group revealed plans to close up to 100 Paddy Power shops, with 400 jobs at risk. The Irish Examiner reported that individual betting shops in Ireland will not be hit by the latest cuts.
New boss, smaller home market
The timing stands out. Taylor officially replaced Peter Jackson on 1 October. Before that he ran Flutter’s international division, and from May he served as group president, tasked with fixing underperforming US operations, according to the Irish Examiner. He also led Paddy Power Betfair between 2018 and 2020.
His first major move in the top job is a sharp contraction in the group’s founding markets. It comes at a bruising moment for Flutter. Its share price has fallen more than 65% over the past 12 months, the Racing Post noted. The group faces rising competition from prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket, and Brazil has imposed a temporary block on online betting.
Industry braces for the budget
Harrington said his immediate focus was supporting affected colleagues through “a difficult and challenging period for all concerned”. He repeated that Flutter cannot absorb a tax rise of this size without cutting its fixed cost base. He also insisted that, as the UK’s largest operator, the group remains well placed to gain market share.
The restructuring itself will cost $80-$90 million (€70-€80 million), booked in Q4 2026. Flutter says it will help deliver second-order mitigation by protecting investment in its customer proposition.
The cuts at Flutter land a week before the UK budget, amid speculation that machine games duty could double to 40%. 90 Labour MPs have written to the chancellor calling for a higher rate on Category B machines.
Grainne Hurst, CEO of the Betting and Gaming Council, called the Flutter redundancies “another devastating blow to workers and families across our sector”. She urged ministers to recognise the damage already done to the regulated sector before imposing further tax rises.
Bet365, Betfred and Evoke have all cut jobs or closed shops this year as higher duties bite.