The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) has warned ministers in a stern message that raising taxes will have significant real-life consequences, as the BGC’s Chief Executive Officer Grainne Hurst calls Flutter’s job cuts announcement ‘another devastating blow’ for the sector.
Flutter UK & Ireland has confirmed that up to 1,400 redundancies are to be expected across its business as it undergoes restructuring, in response to the increase in UK remote gaming duty in April earlier this year.
The announcement and responding comment from the BGC come as the Labour government contemplates its upcoming budget, where it is widely speculated that there will be an increase in machine games duty up to 40%.
BGC: Tax rises will only accelerate damage
Flutter’s announcement was described by Hurst as ‘another devastating blow to workers and families across our sector, and further evidence of the real-world consequences of the Government’s tax rises’.
The BGC CEO stated: “These are not just numbers. They are people facing uncertainty over their livelihoods as major British employers are forced to make painful decisions in response to mounting tax pressures.
“The warnings could not be clearer. Businesses are already cutting jobs, closing betting shops and scaling back investment.
“Further tax rises will only accelerate that damage, putting thousands more jobs at risk, threatening high streets and handing an advantage to the unsafe, unregulated illegal gambling market.
“Ministers must recognise the damage already being done to the regulated sector and think again before imposing further tax rises that will cost more jobs and livelihoods.”
Restructuring cost
Flutter UK&I restructuring is the first major decision made by Dan Taylor since replacing Peter Jackson as Chief Executive Officer of Flutter Entertainment at the start of October, and it is expected to preserve investment in customer proposition and support market share goals, but will come with an associated cost of $80m-$90m, to be incurred in the fourth quarter of 2026.
Leeds, UK; Dublin, Ireland; Porto, Portugal; and Cluj-Napoca, Romania are locations expected to be impacted by the cuts. Globally, Flutter employs 28,500 people, with 9,000 part of its UK & Ireland business.
Kevin Harrington, CEO of Flutter UK & Ireland, noted: “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.”