Entain has confirmed it will cut approximately 500 jobs as part of a broad efficiency initiative led by new chief financial officer Michael Snape.
Snape took over as CFO in March following the departure of Rob Wood, and is now overseeing what the company describes as a significant organisational restructuring effort.
The programme is focused on improving what Entain calls “operational efficiency and agility”, according to a statement provided to industry publication NEXT.io.
Job cuts will span several corporate function areas, including people, finance, governance, product, and technology teams across the wider group.
Entain has been keen to stress that the redundancies are not a direct response to the recent increases in UK gambling taxes, which came into effect earlier this year.
Remote Gaming Duty almost doubled from 21% to 40% at the start of April, with a new 25% rate for remote betting set to follow on 1 April 2027.
An Entain spokesperson told NEXT.io: “These changes will help make Entain a stronger, better business and are further demonstration of our strategic focus on maximising shareholder value.”
CEO Stella David addressed all Entain employees in an internal email seen by NEXT.io, confirming the scale of the cuts and acknowledging the difficult nature of the decisions involved.
David wrote: “We’ve been planning these changes for a while and they are well underway, which means that sadly, we have already said goodbye to some colleagues, with further impact on people over the months ahead.”
She added: “I want to sincerely thank everyone for their contribution to Entain and wish them every success for the future.”
The redundancy announcement follows another significant strategic move last month, when Entain agreed to sell a 20% stake in its Central and Eastern Europe business to joint venture partner EMMA Capital for €425m.
That deal represented the first step in a planned exit from the CEE region, with proceeds earmarked to reduce debt and support Entain’s broader shareholder value strategy.
Both the job cuts and the CEE disposal are expected to feature prominently when Entain publishes its Q2 and H1 financial results on 13 August.
