Bet365 has become the final member of the UK’s five largest gambling firms to announce significant job cuts following recent tax increases.
The Stoke-on-Trent headquartered company, led by the Coates family, confirmed it will reduce its total workforce by approximately 340 positions, representing around 3% of all staff.
Roughly 300 of those redundancies will fall on employees based in Stoke-on-Trent, where bet365 is the biggest private employer, with the remaining 40 roles affected in Gibraltar and Malta.
A bet365 spokesperson said: “As an international business, we continually review and assess our operations to ensure the business’ long-term future. We’re currently facing a highly competitive trading environment, plus increased regulatory and tax-related costs.”
The spokesperson continued: “As a result we’re restructuring some of our locations this year. Ultimately, this will result in a reduction of approximately 340 roles across our European hubs, which is the equivalent of around three per cent of the workforce.”
The company stated it would be “exploring all avenues to reduce the number of redundancies” and confirmed it is offering a voluntary redundancy programme to affected staff.
Online gambling operators have faced serious financial pressure since the near-doubling of remote gaming duty to 40%, which was introduced in last year’s budget and significantly increased operating costs across the sector.
A new remote betting duty of 25%, rising from the previous rate of 15%, is also set to take effect from April next year, placing further strain on operators already managing tighter margins.
The Betting and Gaming Council has estimated that more than 600 betting shops will have closed and over 5,000 jobs lost by the end of 2026 since the last budget was delivered.
Industry modelling has also warned that a potential hike to machine games duty, reported to be under government consideration for next month’s budget, could trigger the closure of more than 2,900 betting shops and reduce the sector’s contribution to British racing by £70 million.
Gareth Snell, the Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central, said the bet365 job losses “should serve as a warning to the regulators and the Treasury,” highlighting the importance of the company to the local economy.
Snell added: “These are well-paid jobs in an area of the country that needs investment. Bet365 is an internationally successful company built from the ground up in Stoke-on-Trent.”
Betting and Gaming Council chief executive Grainne Hurst described the news as “yet more evidence of the real-world consequences of the tax rises imposed on Britain’s betting and gaming industry.”
Hurst called on the government to act, stating: “The government must now rule out any further tax rises on the sector. Ministers should instead pursue an evidence-led approach which protects jobs, investment and the regulated market, rather than handing an advantage to the unsafe, unregulated illegal gambling market.”
