bet365 is taking roughly 340 roles out of its European operations, with the bulk of the reductions landing at its Stoke-on-Trent home base. The operator points to a harsher tax regime, mounting compliance costs and a fiercely competitive market as the reasons behind the restructuring.
Key takeaways
- Around 340 roles — about 3% of the global workforce — are being removed across bet365's European hubs.
- Roughly 300 of those jobs sit in the UK, mostly in Stoke-on-Trent; another 40 or so are in Malta and Gibraltar.
- The company is starting with a voluntary redundancy programme to hold down compulsory cuts.
- Remote Gaming Duty is now 40%, and Remote Betting Duty climbs from 15% to 25% next April.
- The Betting and Gaming Council expects 600+ shop closures and 5,000 job losses across the sector by the end of 2026.
One of Europe's largest online betting operators is shrinking its headcount. bet365 confirmed it will cut approximately 340 positions as part of a restructuring programme it links directly to rising taxation, heavier regulatory overheads and a trading environment that has become markedly tougher.
The reductions are concentrated in Europe. Around 300 roles are expected to disappear in the United Kingdom, the majority of them at the group's Stoke-on-Trent headquarters, while some 40 further positions are affected in Malta and Gibraltar. bet365 employs roughly 10,000 people worldwide and about 5,500 in Stoke-on-Trent alone, where it ranks among the biggest private employers in the region.
From a Portable Building to a Global Operator
The company's roots are firmly local. Denise Coates founded bet365 in 2000 in a portable building in Stoke-on-Trent and took it online in March 2001, borrowing £15 million from Royal Bank of Scotland against the family's betting shops, a chain her father Peter Coates had started in 1974. Those shops were sold to Coral in 2005 for £40 million. Coates still owns 50.1% of the business and runs it alongside her brother John as joint chief executive, and the brand's name sits on Stoke City's stadium.
Revenue has kept climbing even as profit has come under pressure. Accounts for the year to March 2025 showed turnover of about £4 billion, up 9% from £3.7 billion, with sports betting growing 5% and casino gaming 25%, while the costs of entering new markets and closing others weighed on profit. Coates' own pay for that year came to at least £280 million, including a £104 million salary. Expansion has not stopped: bet365 went live in France on 26 May 2026 after winning approval from the national regulator, the ANJ.
A Restructuring Framed as Long-Term Housekeeping
In its statement, the operator described the exercise as a routine but necessary review of how the business is organised, and said affected staff have already been notified and are being supported through the process.
"As an international business, we continually review and assess our operations to ensure the business's long-term future. We're currently facing a highly competitive trading environment, plus increased regulatory and tax-related costs. 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 3% of the workforce."
— bet365 statement
The company added that it is "exploring all avenues to reduce the number of redundancies" and will open a voluntary redundancy programme as a first step, describing colleagues as its priority and acknowledging the anxiety the announcement will cause.
The UK Tax Squeeze Behind the Numbers
The cuts arrive after a run of tax increases aimed at gambling businesses operating in Britain. Remote Gaming Duty was lifted to 40% following last year's budget, and Remote Betting Duty is set to rise from 15% to 25% in April, with horseracing carved out of that increase.
Those rates were set in Chancellor Rachel Reeves' Budget of 26 November 2025. Remote Gaming Duty on online casino products rose from 21% to 40% on 1 April 2026, while a new 25% Remote Betting Rate within General Betting Duty takes effect on 1 April 2027. Self-service betting terminals, spread betting, pool betting and UK horseracing are excluded, and remote horserace bets stay at 15%. The Treasury dropped an earlier plan for a single remote duty, citing the higher harm linked to online gaming, abolished Bingo Duty and gave the Gambling Commission an extra £26 million over three years to tackle the illegal market.
"I am making no change to the taxes on in-person gambling or horse racing and I am abolishing bingo duty entirely from April 2026. Taken together, my reforms to gambling tax will raise over £1 billion per year by 2031."
— Rachel Reeves, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Budget 2025
Operators are also bracing for a possible hike in Machine Games Duty. Industry modelling suggests a 40% rate could trigger more than 2,900 betting shop closures and strip roughly £70 million out of British racing's income from levy payments and media rights.
bet365 is far from alone in reacting. William Hill has confirmed the closure of 270 shops; Betfred is shutting 132 locations, affecting some 600 jobs; and Paddy Power has flagged another 100 closures on top of 57 already announced, putting around 400 roles at risk. The Betting and Gaming Council estimates the post-budget measures could close more than 600 shops and cost 5,000 jobs before the end of 2026.
The warnings started early. After the Budget, William Hill and 888 owner Evoke called the tax rise "ill-thought-through, counter-productive, and highly damaging" and said it was likely to mean thousands of job cuts across the country.
Political and Industry Reaction
The announcement drew immediate comment from both local politicians and trade bodies. Gareth Snell, Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central, argued that the redundancies should be a warning signal for regulators and ministers alike.
"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."
— Gareth Snell, MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central
Grainne Hurst, chief executive of the Betting and Gaming Council, read the cuts as fresh proof that the recent duty rises are biting into employment rather than simply into operator margins.
"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."
— Grainne Hurst, CEO, Betting and Gaming Council
What It Signals for the European Market
For an operator of bet365's scale, a 3% trim is not existential — but the geography of the cuts is telling. Stoke-on-Trent, Malta and Gibraltar are precisely the hubs that built Europe's online betting industry, and all three are now absorbing the cost of a regulated market that has become more expensive to serve. With another duty increase already scheduled for April, the pressure on headcount, marketing budgets and product roadmaps is unlikely to ease in the near term.
Gibraltar has been watching closely. Snell had already used a written parliamentary question to ask what talks the Treasury had held with Gibraltar's government about the new betting rate; Exchequer Secretary Dan Tomlinson replied that the duty rises are expected to raise more than £1 billion a year and that officials had engaged with the territory after the Budget. In Gibraltar's own parliament, trade minister Nigel Feetham urged a pragmatic response to protect locally based operators.
"This is an issue of vital importance to Gibraltar and one that may directly and indirectly affect our public revenues."
— Nigel Feetham KC MP, Minister of Trade and Industry, Gibraltar
bet365 says it will keep working to minimise compulsory redundancies, leaning first on voluntary departures and support for the staff involved.
