Flutter Entertainment to cut up to 1,400 UK and Ireland jobs in tax response

NEW YORK, Oct. 20: Flutter Entertainment plc announced a restructuring of its UK and Ireland business that is expected to result in up to 1,400 redundancies. The move responds to increased UK gaming taxes introduced in the 2025 Autumn Budget. The company stated that the restructuring is part of its guided first-order cost mitigation strategy.

The decision affects employees in Leeds, UK, and Dublin, Ireland, as well as UK and Ireland staff based at Flutter hubs in Porto, Portugal, and Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Flutter employs 28,500 people globally, including 9,000 within the UK and Ireland business. The company noted that the plans are subject to consultation.

Kevin Harrington, Chief Executive of Flutter UK and Ireland, stated that the material increase in betting and gaming duties has fundamentally changed the economic model of the regulated betting and gaming industry in the UK. He said the company cannot fully absorb a rise of this magnitude without reducing its fixed cost base. Harrington added that Flutter remains confident it is well placed to benefit from share gains given its position as the largest scale operator in the UK.

The associated costs to implement this restructuring are estimated at $80 million to $90 million. These costs were captured within the updated guidance issued in Flutter’s Q2 earnings update and will be incurred in Q4 2026. At Q2 2026, Flutter increased its guidance relating to restructuring, transaction, and integration costs to $500 million.

Flutter expects the tax increases to have a very significant impact on the overall market. The company reported that the total adjusted EBITDA impact of changes to UK iGaming taxes in 2027 was $540 million, which it expects to offset with $201 million of first-order mitigation. Effective from April 2026, iGaming taxes increased by 19 percentage points to 40 percent. Effective from April 2027, sports betting taxes excluding horseracing will increase by 10 percentage points to 25 percent.

Flutter reported $16,383 million of revenue globally for fiscal 2025, up 17% year over year. For the quarter ended June 30, 2026, the company reported $4,326 million of global revenue. The company operates a diverse portfolio of leading online sports betting and iGaming brands across its global operations.