Last Updated on September 19, 2026 by Bala Kumar
A second wave of job losses in under a year signals how deeply the UK’s new gambling tax regime is reshaping the industry that owns partypoker, Ladbrokes, and half of BetMGM.
For most of this year, the story of British gambling policy has been told in tax percentages. This week it’s being told in headcount. Entain, the FTSE-listed group behind partypoker, Ladbrokes, and a half-share of BetMGM, has confirmed it will remove another 400 roles from its workforce — its second major round of cuts in less than twelve months.
The reduction follows an earlier layoff of 500 positions and lands on top of a warning that roughly 1,000 Ladbrokes and Coral betting shops around the country could shut their doors. None of this is happening in isolation. It’s the latest and clearest sign of what the government’s overhaul of gambling duty is doing to the companies built on the UK market.
What Actually Changed in the Tax Rules
In April, the UK government pushed the tax rate on online casino products from 21% up to 40%, nearly doubling it in a single move. A second increase is already scheduled: the levy on online sports betting rises from 15% to 25% starting in April 2027. Layer those two changes together and it’s easy to see why operators that built their business models around the old rates are now recalculating everything from staffing levels to which shops stay open.
Entain’s chief executive, Stella David, has put a number on what it means for her company alone — an extra £100 million a year in tax. She’s also pointed to independent analysis from EY suggesting the wider fallout could be far worse than the Treasury expects: as many as 1,470 betting shop closures and nearly 16,000 jobs lost across the sector, with the government potentially coming out roughly £120 million worse off once lost income tax, National Insurance, and business rates are factored back in.
“The tax increase could devastate the industry” — and, by David’s own reading of the EY figures, could end up costing the Treasury more than it raises.
— Stella David, CEO, Entain
Entain Isn’t Cutting Alone
What makes this moment feel different from a routine corporate restructuring is how many operators are moving at the same time, for the same stated reason.
| Operator | Brands Affected | Reported Impact |
| Entain | partypoker, Ladbrokes, Coral, BetMGM (50%) | 400 jobs cut; ~1,000 shops at risk |
| Evoke | William Hill, 888poker | ~270 shops to close |
| Bet365 | Bet365 | ~340 roles across UK, Gibraltar, Malta |
| Flutter Entertainment | PokerStars, Paddy Power, Sky Bet | 100 roles cut in July |
Add it up, and the Betting and Gaming Council’s own estimate of roughly 4,500 jobs lost since the tax plan was approved starts to look less like an outlier and more like a running total that keeps climbing with each new announcement.
Why Poker Players Should Care
It’s easy to read a story about tax policy and corporate headcount as background noise if you’re just trying to grind a session on partypoker or PokerStars. But structural cost pressure at the parent-company level tends to eventually show up on the felt — in guarantee sizes, rakeback and loyalty program generosity, marketing spend on live festivals, and how aggressively a site competes for player volume against unregulated or offshore competitors that aren’t paying UK duty at all.
There’s also a quieter irony in David’s argument: if the EY modelling holds up, a tax rise designed to raise more revenue for the government could end up doing the opposite once shop closures, job losses, and reduced business activity are priced in. Whether that argument moves policymakers is an open question, but it’s exactly the kind of tension — more tax revenue per pound wagered, fewer pounds being wagered through licensed UK operators — that tends to define how gambling regulation evolves from here.
What to Watch Next
The next inflection point is April 2027, when the online sports betting duty jumps from 15% to 25%. If operators are already restructuring ahead of a tax change that’s fully priced in today, it’s reasonable to expect another round of belt-tightening as that second increase gets closer. For now, Entain’s 400 cuts at partypoker are less a one-off headline than a data point in a trend line the whole UK gambling sector is now tracking closely.
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