Flutter to cut up to 1400 UK and Ireland jobs as gaming tax rises bite

Flutter Entertainment will cut up to 1400 jobs from its UK and Ireland business as part of its latest response to UK gambling tax increases which are expected to take US$540 million out of its 2027 adjusted EBITDA.

Flutter announced the restructure on Tuesday, confirming it will affect staff in Leeds and Dublin, as well as UK and Ireland employees at Flutter’s hubs in Porto, Portugal, and Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The division employs 9000 of Flutter’s 28,500 staff worldwide, and the company began notifying affected employees.

Flutter expects pre-tax charges of US$80 million to US$90 million, mostly severance and related costs, and the company plans to substantially complete the restructure by the end of 2026. The cuts form part of the roughly US$201 million in first-order mitigation Flutter has guided towards against the 2027 tax hit.

The UK Government’s November 2025 Budget lifted Remote Gaming Duty on online casino and slots from 21 per cent to 40 per cent from April 1 this year. Most remote sports betting moves from 15 per cent to 25 per cent from April 1, 2027.

“The material increase in betting and gaming duties announced in the UK Budget last year has fundamentally changed the economic model of the regulated betting and gaming industry in the UK while helping to fuel the unlicensed, unregulated market,” Flutter UK & Ireland chief executive Kevin Harrington said.

“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.”

With its second-quarter results on August 5, Flutter launched a second phase of its group cost transformation. That phase targets a further US$500 million in savings from operating costs and capital expenditure by 2029 by removing duplication, improving technology efficiency, aligning functions and using AI.

Dan Taylor, who previously ran Flutter International, became group chief executive on October 1, replacing Peter Jackson, who remains an adviser until the end of the year. In Australia, Doug Brown took over as Sportsbet chief executive on June 1, with predecessor Barni Evans becoming CEO, Flutter APAC & Emerging Markets.

Flutter will provide further detail on the group cost program with its third-quarter results in November.