Paddy Power owner Flutter has announced it will cut as many as 1,400 jobs, blaming Labour’s tax raid on the gambling sector last year.
The New-York listed firm will restructure its UK and Ireland division, slashing around 15 per cent of its workforce.
Redundancies will affect roles in Leeds and Dublin, as well as Portugal and Romania where staff support the UK division.
The betting group said the losses were in response to the “significant increase” in UK gambling taxes announced in last year’s Autumn Budget.
Former chancellor Rachel Reeves nearly doubled the charge, hiking them from 21 per cent to 40 per cent. The changes took effect this April, and bookmakers are now bracing for a levy on their profits to rise from 15 per cent to 25 per cent from April 2027.
Kevin Harrington, Flutter’s UK&I chief executive, said the gambling industry “cannot fully absorb a rise of this magnitude without reducing our fixed cost base”.
Recent tax hikes on the sector have “fundamentally changed the economic model of the regulated betting and gaming industry in the UK while helping to fuel the unlicensed, unregulated market,” he added.
The Office for Budget Responsibility warned in November 2025 that gamblers moving towards illegal gambling websites in the wake of hikes could also reduce the expected tax take by around £500m.
On the chopping block
Flutter owns high-street bookmaker Paddy Power as well as Sky Bet, Betfair and Tombola. It employs 8,960 people in the UK and Ireland division.
Its redundancy plans follow previous warnings from the gambling giant that it would take a £400m hit from Labour’s tax hikes in April 2027, ultimately forcing it to look for ways to cut costs.
The latest wave of layoffs also come on top of plans announced last month to review 100 Paddy Power betting shops, putting around 400 jobs at risk. But Flutter said those shops were not affected by its latest redundancy announcement.
Flutter’s share price has tumbled 64.5 per cent since the start of the year, trading at $77.3 (£57.8).
Bookies feel the heat
Other bookmakers have also blamed Labour’s tax raid for forcing them to trim headcounts and close physical stores.
William Hill closed 270 shops in April while Betfred announced 132 closures in July, impacting 600 workers.
Bet365 also unveiled around 340 redundancies in September, while Ladbrokers-owner Entain proposed cutting 400 customer service jobs.
Healey is reportedly deciding whether to raise machine gaming duty, the taxes levied on slot machines on the Autumn Budget.
Six gambling bosses, including Harrington, wrote to the Chancellor last week urging him against further hikes and to halt next year’s planned increase to betting duty.
They warned doing so could lead to as many as 15,9000 job losses, as well 1,470 shop closures and 34 casino closures.