Hundreds of workers in Leeds could lose their jobs as gambling giant Flutter prepares to cut around 1,400 jobs in the UK and Ireland in a restructuring programme blamed on higher taxes.
The move will hit around 15 per cent of workers in the UK and Ireland, with Leeds confirmed as being among the affected locations.
Flutter, which owns Paddy Power and Sky Bet, currently employs around 1,700 people in Leeds and it is understood more than 450 jobs in the city are at risk of redundancy although not all of those roles are expected to be lost.
The restructuring will also impact UK and Ireland staff based in Dublin and at Flutter hubs in Porto, Portugal, and Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Flutter said the overhaul is part of efforts to mitigate costs following a “significant increase” in the UK gaming taxes from last year’s autumn budget.
Kevin Harrington, Flutter UK & Ireland chief executive, 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.”
The restructing programme is expected to cost up to $90m (£67m) by the end of this year.
Flutter currently employs 28,500 people globally including 9,000 who work in its UK and Ireland business.
The job cuts do not affect the company’s retail estate but follow on from recently-announced plans to cut 400 Paddy Power shop jobs.
It follows the Government increasing remote gaming duty from 21 per cent to 40 per cent from this April, with general betting duty due to increase from 15 per cent to 25 per cent from April 2027.
Flutter has previously warned that tax rises were due to cost it $540m in 2027.
Other gambling companies including William Hill and Betfred have closed shops in recent months.