Bet365 Cuts 340 Jobs as Tax Rises Squeeze the Big Five
Stoke-on-Trent’s biggest private employer has some unwelcome news for its own staff this week. Bet365 has confirmed it is trimming 340 roles, roughly three per cent of its workforce, becoming the last of the UK’s five biggest gambling firms to reach for the redundancy lever since last year’s tax rise began biting.
What’s happened
The gambling firm bet365 has announced plans to cut 340 staff as part of a business restructure, with the jobs going at its headquarters in Stoke-on-Trent and its offices in Malta and Gibraltar.
Around 300 of those roles are expected to sit in Stoke-on-Trent, with the remaining 40 split across Gibraltar and Malta, out of a global workforce of 10,000 people, 5,500 of whom are based in Stoke.
The company points to a familiar squeeze.
A spokesperson said it was facing “a highly competitive trading environment, plus increased regulatory and tax-related costs”.
The tax on online casino and digital slot revenue rose from 21% to 40% under Chancellor Rachel Reeves, with levies on most online sports betting also set to climb from 15% to 25% from 2027.
What’s changed
Bet365 says it wants to soften the landing where it can.
It promised it would be “exploring all avenues to reduce the number of redundancies” and was offering a programme of voluntary redundancies first.
Impacted staff have already been informed and are said to be “fully supported throughout this process”.
The wider picture is bleak for the sector’s headcount.
The Betting and Gaming Council has estimated that by the end of 2026 more than 600 betting shops will have closed and 5,000 jobs will have been lost since last year’s budget.
Local politicians have taken notice:
Gareth Snell, the Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central, said the job losses “should serve as a warning to the regulators and the Treasury”, adding that these are well-paid jobs in an area that needs investment.
BGC chief executive Grainne Hurst called the news further evidence of “the real-world consequences of the tax rises” and urged ministers to rule out any further increases on the sector.
Where it fits
For a magazine that tracks slot releases and app updates, this matters because of what it signals for the pipeline. Bet365 runs one of the biggest in-house casino operations serving UK players, with its own studio content and a constant stream of app and site refreshes sitting alongside third-party slots and live tables. Redundancy rounds at this scale, layered on top of the same tax pressures that have already pushed Entain out of the FTSE 100 and prompted cost reviews at rivals, tend to show up eventually in slower feature rollouts, tighter promotional budgets, or operators leaning harder on existing supplier deals rather than commissioning bespoke content.
It also fits a pattern this site has been tracking all year: UK-licensed operators absorbing higher remote gaming duty by trimming overheads rather than cutting back on the games themselves, at least so far. Whether that balance holds as further tax changes are considered will be worth watching, because it is ultimately what keeps new slots, live tables and app features landing for UK players at the pace they have come to expect.
Sources
- SBC News – bet365 follows four main rivals by cutting workforce in another ominous sign for UK gambling
- Yahoo Finance – Bet365 announces plans for 340 job losses
- Racing Post – Bet365 to cut 340 jobs in latest blow from higher gambling taxes
- EGR Intel – Bet365 to cut 340 jobs across European hubs as UK tax raid blamed for decision
- IndexBox – Bet365 Job Cuts: 340 Roles Affected in UK, Gibraltar, and Malta
