Paddy Power cuts 1,400 jobs and blames betting tax rises

Paddy Power-owner Flutter has announced plans to cut up to 1,400 jobs as its boss claimed the company “cannot fully absorb” tax rises imposed on the gambling industry last year.

Staff based in the UK and Ireland, as well as British and Irish workers at Flutter’s sites in Portugal and Romania will be affected, but what roles are at risk has not been disclosed.

The government increased taxes on online casino and sports betting, with an exemption for horse racing, in the Budget last November.

Flutter boss Kevin Harrington said the rise had “fundamentally changed” the economic model of the UK betting and gaming industry, arguing it had helped “fuel the unlicensed, unregulated market”.

“We continue to expect these tax increases to have a very significant impact on the overall market,” Flutter said on Tuesday.

Flutter, which also owns Sky Bet and Betfair, employs 28,500 people across the world, including 9,000 in the UK and Ireland.

Harrington, who is chief executive of the betting giant’s UK and Ireland business, 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.”

The company delisted from the London Stock Exchange in August in a blow to the UK, with its shares now solely traded in New York.