Flutter has announced plans to restructure its UK & Ireland business, with up to 1,400 roles at risk, including staff at the Tombola site in Sunderland.
Tombola, the Sunderland-born online gaming and technology business, is one of the UK market's leading online bingo operators. It began on the quayside in Sunderland in 2006, with teams today primarily located in the city and Gibraltar. In early 2022, Tombola was acquired by parent company Flutter UK & Ireland for an enterprise value of £402m.
Restructure in Response to Tax Increases
The restructuring announced today forms part of the already guided first-order cost mitigation in response to the significant increase in UK gaming taxation announced in last year's Autumn Budget by the UK Government.
Flutter, the world's leading online sports betting and iGaming operator, home to Paddy Power, Sky Bet, Betfair, and Tombola, employs 8,960 in its UK and Ireland division, including shops, across sites in Leeds, Sunderland, London, Dublin, and other hubs across Europe including Gibraltar, Malta, Porto, and Cluj in Romania.
Whilst these plans will be subject to consultation, it is expected to result in up to 1,400 redundancies, approximately 15% of the workforce. The decision will impact 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. ChronicleLive understands that fewer than 100 Tombola staff are impacted, across both the site and remote workers.
Company Response and Support
A spokesperson from Flutter UK & Ireland said: "We continue to expect these tax increases to have a very significant impact on the overall market. The restructure announced today is expected to support Flutter in delivering material second order mitigation benefits, by preserving investment in our customer proposition, and underpins our confidence in our ability to gain share."
The associated costs to implement this restructuring of $80m - $90m were captured within the updated guidance issued within Flutter's Q2 earnings update 3 and will be incurred in Q4 2026.
Flutter employs 28,500 people globally, including 9,000 who work in the UK & Ireland business.
CEO Comments on Market Impact
Kevin Harrington, Flutter UK & Ireland Chief Executive, commented: "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."
