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(Sharecast News) - Paddy Power owner Flutter Entertainment said on Tuesday that it was cutting up to 1,400 jobs as it restructures the UK and Ireland business in response to the increase in UK gaming taxes announced in the 2025 Autumn Budget.
Flutter, which also owns FanDuel and Betfair, among others, said the restructuring will impact staff in a number of locations including Leeds and Dublin, as well as UK & Ireland staff at Flutter hubs including Porto, Portugal and Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
"We continue to expect these tax increases to have a very significant impact on the overall market," Flutter said. "The restructure announced today is expected to support Flutter in delivering material second order mitigation benefits, by preserving investment in our customer proposition, and underpins our confidence in our ability to gain share."
The associated costs to implement the restructuring of $80m to $90m were captured within the updated guidance issued in the company's second-quarter earnings update and will be incurred in the fourth quarter of 2026.
Flutter employs 28,500 people globally, including 9,000 who work in the UK & Ireland business.
Kevin Harrington, chief executive of Flutter UK & Ireland, said: "My immediate focus is providing the necessary support for all of our impacted colleagues and guiding our teams through what we know is going to be a difficult and challenging period for all concerned.
"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.
"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."
Remote gaming duty - which is paid on online casino betting - rose to 40% from 21% on 1 April 2026, while general betting duty will rise to 25% from 15% online next April.
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