Flutter to cut up to 1,400 UK & Ireland jobs as it absorbs 40% Remote Gaming Duty

Flutter Entertainment will cut up to 1,400 jobs in its UK & Ireland division to offset higher UK gambling taxes. The redundancies form part of savings meant to absorb a $540m hit to 2027 adjusted EBITDA while it pushes for market share.

Flutter Entertainment will shed up to 1,400 jobs in its UK & Ireland business as it absorbs higher UK gambling taxes. The owner of Paddy Power, Betfair and Sky Bet formally committed to the restructuring on 20 October 2026. The group employs 28,500 people worldwide.

Staff in Leeds and Dublin will be affected, as will UK & Ireland employees at the Porto and Cluj-Napoca hubs. Around 240 of the redundancies are expected to fall in Ireland, according to The Currency. Flutter began telling affected staff on the day of the announcement. The plan remains subject to legal notice and employee consultation requirements.

Job cuts form part of already-guided tax mitigation

The 2025 Budget lifted the online casino and slots duty to its new rate from 1 April 2026. The new remote betting rate within general betting duty follows from 1 April 2027, with remote bets on UK horseracing excluded. After that Budget, Flutter put the pre-mitigation hit to adjusted EBITDA at about $320m in 2026. First-order mitigation was expected to offset $85m in 2026, leaving net impacts of $235m that year and $339m in 2027. Its Q2 2026 results left the 2026 estimate unchanged.

The redundancies are part of that first-order mitigation. Most of the charges will be cash spending on severance, benefits and related costs. Non-cash share-based pay charges will follow but cannot yet be estimated. The restructuring cost was already included in guidance at the Q2 2026 update. Guidance for restructuring, transaction and integration costs rose to $500m.

Flutter bets lower costs will win share

Flutter aims to win share by investing in its customer offering. Kevin Harrington, chief executive of Flutter UK & Ireland, told Gaming Intelligence that, as the UK’s largest operator, Flutter is well placed to win share. A year earlier, the company warned it could not absorb such a big tax rise. Fixed-cost cuts would be needed.

Flutter has also said it may close up to 100 Paddy Power shops. It also comes shortly after Dan Taylor became group chief executive on 1 October 2026, replacing Peter Jackson. Taylor previously ran Paddy Power Betfair from 2018 to 2020.

Further tax pressure is possible for the land-based side of the market. In a letter to Chancellor John Healey, 90 Labour MPs called for a higher Machine Games Duty rate on Category B machines in this month’s Autumn Budget. Betting and Gaming Council chief executive Grainne Hurst has voiced deep concern about the proposal.

Flutter aims to complete most of the restructuring by the end of 2026.

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