Flutter, the owner of Paddy Power, has announced it is cutting 1,400 jobs across its UK and Ireland business, blaming last year's increase in gambling duties. The company, which also owns Sky Bet, Betfair and Tombola, is reducing around 15% of its staff in the division.
Tax changes blamed for restructuring
Flutter has directly linked the cuts to the rise in betting and gaming duties announced in the UK budget last year. The announcement adds to a growing number of job losses since the last Budget, as businesses face higher costs.
Kevin Harrington, Flutter UK and Ireland chief executive, said: "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."
Company warns of unlicensed market growth
Harrington added: "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."
He also said: "We remain confident that we are well placed to benefit from share gains given our position as the largest scale operator in the UK."
Impact on workforce
The 1,400 roles affected are across Flutter's UK and Ireland business, although further details of the planned redundancies were not included in the available report. The job cuts will represent a significant reduction in the division's workforce, with around one in seven positions set to go.
The company is one of the biggest names in the betting industry, with Paddy Power a familiar presence on Britain's high streets and its other brands operating across online gambling and gaming.
Questions over tax policy
The move will raise fresh questions over whether higher taxes on gambling businesses risk costing jobs, even as the Government seeks to raise revenue, reports the Daily Mail.
However, the available report did not provide a breakdown of the roles affected, the timetable for the redundancies or the company's estimate of how much the tax changes would add to its costs.
