Gambling giant to slash 400 jobs amid Labour’s assault on betting industry

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The company last month said new UK gambling taxes were set to have a 'massive impact' worth around £250 million

Ladbrokes and Coral owner Entain has said it plans to cut around 400 customer care jobs worldwide as it looks to slash costs in response to increased gambling taxes.

It comes after the company last month said new UK gambling taxes were set to have a “massive impact” worth around £250million.

Entain had initially said its UK performance showed “impressive” momentum despite “digesting the recently increased UK remote gambling taxes”.

The rate of remote gaming duty increased from 21 per cent to 40 per cent from the start of April, while a new rate of general betting duty will also be introduced next year.

The company, which operates more than 2,300 betting shops across the UK, has begun a consultation over a restructuring of its customer services division.

About 2,000 people are employed in the department, meaning the proposed cuts could affect roughly 20 per cent of its customer facing workforce.

Entain says the overhaul will remove duplicated roles and create specialist “centres of excellence” aimed at improving customer service.

However, the announcement comes as gambling operators face significantly higher costs and increasing competition from emerging prediction markets.

The redundancies mark the second major round of job cuts announced by Entain this year, having confirmed in July that around 500 positions would be removed across the wider business - approximately two per cent of its workforce.

The company had already committed in March to reducing costs across the group by enough to absorb more than half of the additional burden exceeding £200million.

Entain has now stepped up its opposition to further increases in gambling duties, with chief executive Stella David warning that another tax rise could put thousands of jobs and betting shops at risk.

Ms David has written to Prime Minister Andy Burnham calling on the Government to abandon proposals to increase Machine Games Duty. The levy applies to fixed-odds betting terminals operated in betting shops.

She cited modelling by EY, commissioned by the Betting and Gaming Council, which estimates that a 40 per cent Machine Games Duty rate could result in as many as 1,470 betting shops closing and 15,900 jobs being lost across the industry.

The modelling further suggests that the measure could ultimately reduce rather than increase tax receipts.

EY estimates that the Treasury could suffer a net loss of approximately £120million after accounting for the wider economic impact.

Ms David argued that betting shops remain an important source of employment, with more than a fifth of its shop employees aged under 25 - having recruited 1,920 young workers since 2024.

In a statement accompanying the latest restructuring, Ms David said the decision had not been taken lightly, and that the company’s immediate focus was supporting employees affected by the changes.

She also warned in her letter that a substantial increase in gambling taxes could undermine the Government’s stated objective of protecting employment and supporting high streets.

Ms David argued that placing additional financial pressure on licensed betting shops could encourage some customers to move to unregulated operators, which do not pay UK gambling taxes and are not subject to the same consumer protection requirements.

Her letter also points to analysis from the Office for Budget Responsibility, which has suggested that gambling tax changes introduced in the previous Budget are expected to generate significantly less revenue than initially forecast.

Entain says its betting shops support British horseracing and greyhound racing, contributing about £50million a year to racing and operating three greyhound stadiums.

The company maintains that it is not seeking to avoid paying tax, pointing out that it ranks among the UK's 20 largest taxpayers - but argues that the cumulative effect of recent and proposed increases is becoming increasingly difficult for the sector to absorb.

Ms David has asked for an opportunity to introduce Andy Burnham to employees working in Entain’s betting shops, saying they should be able to explain directly how further tax increases could affect their jobs and local businesses before the Government finalises its plans in the Autumn Budget.