Flutter plans up to 1,400 UK&I job cuts: How the market reacted

The cuts will affect Leeds, Dublin, and hubs in Porto and Cluj-Napoca. They are part of the cost savings Flutter told investors to expect after last year’s Budget.

Flutter Entertainment plans to cut up to 1,400 jobs in its UK and Ireland business, about 16% of the 9,000 people who work there. The company announced the restructure on 20 October 2026 and said it was a response to the UK gambling tax rises set out in the November 2025 Budget.

Key findings

• Flutter plans up to 1,400 redundancies in its UK and Ireland business, subject to consultation.
• That is about 16% of the 9,000 people who work in the division.
• The $80 million to $90 million cost was already in Flutter’s Q2 guidance and will be incurred in Q4 2026.
• Flutter expects the UK tax rises to cost it $540 million in adjusted EBITDA in 2027 before mitigation, of which it aims to offset $201 million.
• Truist and JPMorgan cut their price targets on the same day, and the shares closed below MarketBeat’s lowest analyst target.

What Flutter announced

Flutter said the plans are subject to consultation and are expected to result in up to 1,400 redundancies. The locations affected include:

• Leeds, UK
• Dublin, Ireland
• UK and Ireland staff at Flutter’s hubs in Porto, Portugal, and Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Flutter employs 28,500 people worldwide. The restructure will cost $80 million to $90 million, which Flutter expects to incur in the fourth quarter of 2026.

That cost is already in Flutter’s numbers. It was included in the guidance Flutter updated with its second-quarter results on 5 August, when the company raised its 2026 estimate for transaction, restructuring, and integration costs to about $500 million. 

Kevin Harrington, chief executive of Flutter UK & Ireland, 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.’

The tax rises behind the cuts

The November 2025 Budget raised two online gambling duties. The first took effect in April. The second follows next year.

On the day of that Budget, Flutter estimated what the rises would cost it and how much it could offset through its own savings.

First-order mitigation is Flutter’s own cost cutting, including lower operational, promotional, and marketing spend. The 1,400 job cuts are part of that plan. In this week’s release, Flutter repeated its 2027 figures of $540 million before mitigation and $201 million of first-order savings.

Flutter also expects second-order benefits. In November 2025, it said these included winning market share as the largest operator in the UK. It now says the restructure will help deliver them by protecting investment in its customer offer.

Harrington said: 

‘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.’

More pressure before the 28 October Budget

The job cuts follow other moves in Flutter’s UK and Ireland business. On 3 September, Flutter put up to 100 of Paddy Power’s 506 shops under closure review, with about 400 roles at risk.

The UK and Ireland business is still growing. Its revenue rose 4% to $971 million in the second quarter, with iGaming up 7%. However, adjusted EBITDA in Flutter’s International division fell 19% to $476 million. That division includes the UK and Ireland, and Flutter put the fall down mainly to the remote gaming duty rise and World Cup marketing.

The next test comes on 28 October, when Chancellor John Healey delivers his Budget. On 14 October, the Betting and Gaming Council published a letter from the chief executives of Entain, Flutter UK & Ireland, bet365, Bally’s, Evoke, and Betfred. It asked Healey to rule out a rise in machine games duty and to pause the general betting duty increase due in April 2027.

Two days later, 90 Labour MPs asked Healey for a higher machine games duty rate on Category B machines.

How the market and analysts reacted

Flutter shares closed 2.07% higher at $78.98 on 20 October. They are down 64.06% so far this year and touched a 52-week low of $72.56 on 14 October.

Two brokers cut their price targets on the day of the announcement, and both kept their ratings.

MarketBeat’s aggregate covers 31 analysts, with two strong buy, 17 buy, nine hold, and three sell ratings. Their average 12-month target is $142.70 (as of 21 October 2026), down from $155.48 a month earlier.

The lowest target is BNP Paribas Exane’s $80, set with an underperform rating in May. Flutter’s shares closed below it.

Flutter reports third-quarter results in November. At that point, it has said it will give more details on the second phase of its cost programme, which targets $500 million of gross savings by 2029.

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