Paddy Power owner Flutter to cut 1,400 jobs in Ireland and UK

Flutter said staff at Flutter's headquarters in Dublin will be affected

Gambling giant Paddy Power owner Flutter is to cut 1,400 jobs in Ireland and Britain, blaming an increaser in betting taxes announced in the UK.

Gambling giant Paddy Power owner Flutter is to cut 1,400 jobs in Ireland and Britain, blaming an increase in betting taxes in last year's UK budget.

It's believed almost 240 redundancies are planned from Irish operations.

Flutter confirmed staff numbers at Flutter's headquarters in Dublin will be reduced as part of the redundancies. Tuesday's announcement follows on from previously revealed cuts in September by Flutter that it was

closing up to 100 betting shops

, with 400 employees facing redundancy. Individual betting shops around the country will not be affected by this latest round of cuts.

The UK introduces a new 25% rate of general betting duty for online bets from April next year, up from 15%. Flutter said higher gambling taxes would impact underlying earnings by €465m between 2026 and 2027. 

The company said the planned redundancies announced on Tuesday would cost between €70m and €80m.

"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," said Flutter UK & Ireland chief executive Kevin Harrington. “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."

Flutter is the world's largest online betting company with annual revenue of €13.8bn. Flutter employs 28,500 people globally, including 9,000 who work in the business in Ireland and the UK. Its other gambling brands include Betfair, Sky Bet, and FanDuel in the US. Paddy Power was founded in 1988, opening its first 42 shops as a result of a merger between three Irish bookmakers.

Flutter's new chief executive Dan Taylor, the company's former head of international division officially stepped into his role on October 1. Mr Taylor previously served as the Flutter head of its international division and succeeded Peter Jackson, who had been with Flutter for more than a decade. Mr Taylor also served as Flutter president from May 2026, targeting underperforming US operations, part of a management shake-up at its market-leading FanDuel brand.

Continuing cuts

Tuesday's announcement by Flutter is the latest cost-cutting exercise by the company. In September, Paddy Power announced it is shutting shut up to 100 betting shops across Ireland and the UK - around one-fifth of all its shop numbers - with up to 400 employees facing the risk of redundancy. Paddy Power has 196 shops in the Republic of Ireland employing 935 people, with a further 310 shop outlets in the North and in Britain employing 1,374 workers. 

In November 2025, Flutter had previously announced the closure of 28 Paddy Power shops in the Republic of Ireland, and one in the North.

The latest cuts at Flutter will also impact roles at other European locations for the group, including Leeds in England, Porto in Portugal, and Cluj-Napoca in Romania.

The UK has introduced a series of betting duty increases. In April this year, remote gaming duties increasing from 21% to 40%. General betting duty on remote wagers will increase from 15% to 25% in April 2027, though in-person betting in shops will remain subject to a rate of 15%.