4,500 jobs have gone from the gambling sector since Labour’s 2025 Budget.
Bet365, the Stoke-on-Trent-based online betting group, has confirmed it will cut around 300 jobs at its UK headquarters, with a further 40 roles affected at its Gibraltar and Malta offices, bringing the total reduction to roughly 340 positions, about 3pc of its workforce.
The company employs some 5,500 people at its Staffordshire base. Bet365 said the reductions would come first through a programme of voluntary redundancies, with staff already notified and offered support through the process.
Tax rises under Labour
The cuts land against a backdrop of sweeping changes to gambling taxation originally introduced by former Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves. The rate applied to online casinos and digital slot machines has jumped from 21pc to 40pc, and duty on most online sports betting is set to climb from 15pc to 25pc when it takes effect in 2027.
A Bet365 spokesman pointed to a combination of pressures saying the firm operates in a “highly competitive trading environment,” alongside “increased regulatory and tax-related costs.” The company said it had reviewed its European operations and concluded that restructuring, including the workforce reduction, was needed to secure its long-term future.
Wider toll on the industry
Bet365 is not alone. According to the Betting and Gaming Council, the industry’s trade body, roughly 4,500 jobs have gone from the gambling sector since Labour’s 2025 Budget, alongside hundreds of high-street bookmaker closures. Entain, owner of Ladbrokes and Coral, announced 500 job losses earlier this summer, and William Hill has confirmed the closure of about 270 betting shops this year.
A notable Labour donor
The cuts come with a political footnote. Bet365’s founding family were once significant donors to the Labour Party: Peter Coates, father of Bet365 chief executive Denise Coates, gave £25,000 to Sir Keir Starmer’s office in 2020, and companies linked to the firm donated some £490,000 to Labour up to 2015. That giving tailed off during Jeremy Corbyn’s tenure as leader, and the gambling sector has faced repeated tax increases since.
Denise Coates, whose family fortune has been estimated at close to £10bn, was paid £104m in the year to March 2025, up 8pc on the year before, a detail critics of the cuts have seized on.
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