Entain is simplifying its Customer Care model across multiple locations as part of efforts to address the impact of increased UK gambling taxes and create what it describes as a “sharper, fitter and more agile business”.
The changes are intended to reduce duplication, establish centres of excellence and enhance the customer experience, with the company beginning a consultation process that could result in the removal of around 400 of its 2,000 Customer Care roles.
Stella David, CEO of Entain, said: “The proposed changes are being made to ensure our business remains competitive, financially resilient, and well positioned for the future as our sector faces an increasingly challenging operating environment. “This decision has not been made lightly, and our immediate priority is to support those of our colleagues who may be impacted through this transition.”
The announcement comes as David has written to Andy Burnham ahead of the Autumn Budget, setting out concerns over proposals to substantially increase Machine Games Duty. In the letter, addressed to the Prime Minister, David warns that doubling the standard MGD rate to 40 per cent would add around £100m to the annual cost of running Entain’s UK retail business.
Entain employs more than 13,000 people in the UK, with more than 12,000 working across approximately 2,300 Ladbrokes and Coral betting shops. Half of its retail employees are women, 52 per cent work part-time or flexible hours and more than one in five, or 2,570 employees, are under 25. The company has also recruited 1,920 young people since 2024.
David cited independent modelling commissioned by the Betting and Gaming Council from EY which indicates that a 40 per cent MGD rate could result in up to 1,470 betting shop closures and 15,900 job losses across the sector. The modelling also suggests the change could ultimately result in a net loss to the Exchequer of around £120m.
“These are not theoretical efficiencies in a financial model,” David wrote. “They are people losing their jobs and communities losing long-established high-street businesses.”
The Entain CEO also warned that substantially increasing MGD could push gambling away from the regulated high street. The same EY modelling forecasts that, in an extreme scenario, increasing MGD to 40 per cent could result in around £1bn of stakes leaving the legal retail market.
David pointed to Frontier Economics estimates that £1.6bn is already bet annually through illegal land-based gambling, while the Office for Budget Responsibility has estimated that behavioural responses would reduce the yield from gambling tax measures announced in the 2025 Budget by around one-third. This includes a £500m reduction in forecast receipts by 2029-30 arising partly from displacement towards the illegal market.
David also highlighted the wider contribution made by Entain’s retail estate. Its betting shops contribute approximately £50m annually to British horseracing, while Entain owns three greyhound stadia and employs staff across those venues. She argued that fewer viable betting shops could therefore affect employment and high streets as well as commercial support for horseracing and greyhound racing.
The potential MGD increase would come on top of other tax increases affecting the sector. Remote Gaming Duty rose from 21 per cent to 40 per cent in April following the 2025 Budget, while a new 25 per cent General Betting Duty rate on most remote betting will take effect from April 2027.
“We are not asking to be insulated from taxation,” David wrote, noting that Entain is one of the UK’s top 20 taxpayers. She called on the Government to consider the impact of any MGD increase on employment, betting shops and local communities before a decision is taken in the Autumn Budget.