Flutter, the owner of Paddy Power and Betfair/Sky Bet, says it will cut around 1,400 jobs across its UK and Ireland operations. The company describes the move as part of a restructuring and says it will reduce roles by about 15% within the affected division. Several outlets report that the cuts follow new gambling tax measures that the firm says it cannot fully absorb.
The BBC and RTE both link the job reductions to increases in UK taxes on online gambling introduced in last year’s Budget, including levies affecting casino and sports betting. The Daily Mail and Mail Online similarly attribute the decision to “Labour’s gambling tax hikes.” Irish outlets add that some of the impact falls on workers in Ireland, citing comments from Flutter’s chief executive, Kevin Harrington, about the company’s financial pressure from higher duties.
Across reports, there is no single figure for which roles will be cut or where the reductions will be concentrated beyond the UK and Ireland, but all accounts agree that the company is responding to the changed tax environment introduced by the government’s Budget.
