Flutter has been forced to take drastic UK action as hostility towards the UK gambling sector accelerates from within the Labour Party.
The operator has confirmed it is embarking on a restructuring plan, which will result in up to 1,400 redundancies impacting colleagues in a number of locations, including Leeds, UK and Dublin, Ireland, as well as UK & Ireland staff at Flutter hubs including Porto, Portugal and Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Kevin Harrington, Flutter UK & Ireland, Chief Executive, stated: “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.”
Flutter directly citing the rise in remote gaming duty and warning the UK market is fundamentally changing will be a significant warning shot to a government that is still seemingly intent on increasing hostility to the gambling sector through taxation.
The firm outlined that it believes last year’s tax rises will have a ‘very significant’ impact on the market, as it slashes a large number of jobs in order to retain stability in the UK.
When RGD taxation rises were announced, Flutter warned that mitigation was expected to be approximately $320m in fiscal 2026 and $540m in fiscal 2027.
For both Online Sports betting and iGaming tax increases, direct first order mitigation, including reduced operational, promotional and marketing spend was anticipated to be approximately 20% of the gross impact in the first six months post implementation, rising to approximately 40% thereafter.
An estimation that the collective impact of the changes is expected to impact Flutter to the tune of $500m from next year, according to Flutter UK and Ireland Managing Director, Richard Blake.
For a UK government that has placed the employment rate high on its list of priorities, the news will be unwelcome as we hurtle closer to the first budget of Prime Minister Andy Burnham and John Healey.
Appetite within the Labour Party remains strong for a further increase of taxes however, with a list of 90 MPs signing a letter urging for a further increase of Machine Games Duty.
