Paddy Power owner blames tax rises for plan to shed up to 1,400 jobs

Flutter says one in 10 UK and Ireland workers at risk of redundancy because of a ‘material increase in betting and gaming duties’

The gambling company behind Paddy Power and SkyBet has announced up to 1,400 job cuts, blaming tax rises imposed by Rachel Reeves.

Flutter Entertainment revealed plans on Tuesday to restructure its UK and Ireland division, affecting staff in Leeds, Dublin and Sunderland. Redundancies are also expected to hit offices in Porto in Portugal and Cluj-Napoca in Romania.

But Flutter’s domestic market, where it employs 8,960 people, is expected to bear the brunt of the cuts, indicating that more than 10% of its UK and Ireland workforce could lose their jobs.

The announcement is likely to echo loudly in the Treasury a week before John Healey’s first budget. The chancellor is considering an increase in machine games duty (MGD), a tax levied on slot machines. Industry figures warn this would trigger thousands of job losses.

Flutter’s bombshell will heat up the debate over whether tax rises are wholly to blame for job losses in the sector, or whether companies are using government policy as cover for strategic cost-cutting, amid lacklustre conditions in the UK market.

Paddy Power’s founder, Stewart Kenny, has accused the industry of “scaremongering” about jobs to avoid paying more tax.

But Flutter pinned the blame squarely on the “significant” increase in gaming duties announced by Reeves in the 2025 autumn budget.

The then chancellor increased remote gaming duty – levied on online casino games – from 21% to 40%. She also raised duty on online sports bets from 15% to 25%.

Several major gambling companies, including Ladbrokes owner, Entain, and Evoke, which is owned by William Hill, have blamed Reeves for poor financial results or job cuts.

One industry insider, who asked not to be named, said Flutter’s absorption of SkyBet, which it bought in 2026, was likely to be a contributing factor. “Government policy changes ran alongside existing integration of its [Flutter’s] brands with inevitable job cuts,” they said.

Many of the job cuts are expected to fall in Leeds, which was SkyBet’s key centre of operations. Flutter said it expected to take a one-off hit of $90m (£67.3m) from the redundancy round. Its shares rose more than 2% in early trading in the US as investors looked forward to the prospect of a leaner business with fewer employees.

“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,” said Kevin Harrington, Flutter’s UK and Ireland chief executive.

“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. We remain confident that we are well placed to benefit from share gains given our position as the largest scale operator in the UK.”

Leading figures in the gambling industry, which takes £13bn from British punters every year, have warned Healey to expect further contraction among the major operators if he goes ahead with plans to increase MGD.

The Social Market Foundation, a cross-party thinktank, has called for a doubling of the levy from 20% to 40%, saying this could raise up to £460m.

Adult gaming centres, slot machine venues that can be open 24 hours a day on high streets, are understood to be one of the main targets for any such rise. The prime minister, Andy Burnham, has been a vocal critic of the centres.

The Guardian has exposed exploitative practices in the sector, which disproportionately clusters its shops in deprived areas.

Some industry insiders say that gaming centres, which have lower overheads than bookies, could survive a tax rise relatively unscathed, whereas betting shops and casinos would face closures.

Kaynak: The Guardian · Özgün metin İngilizcedir.