Europe’s biggest online bingo site says 250 jobs at risk after Flutter takeover

Europe’s biggest online bingo website has told staff that 250 jobs are at risk as it seeks cost savings following a takeover by Irish betting giant Flutter, according to people briefed on the plans.

Management at Sunderland-headquartered Tombola told staff in an email this week that members of the customer experience team faced the possibility of their jobs being cut, two people said. Tombola has 700 staff in the UK.

A meeting for affected staff was held on Friday. Flutter, the world’s biggest betting company, which bought Tombola for £402 million (€464 million) at the end of 2021, said it would redeploy as many staff as possible within Tombola and across the group.

Tombola’s chat moderators, who are part of the customer experience team, have been told that 250 roles will be cut to just over 100.

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Other parts of the customer experience team, including customer support and “safeplay” advisers, were also told that their jobs were at risk.

A person familiar with Flutter’s plans said the job cuts were “a case of trying to be more efficient” and remove any “duplication” of customer support roles with other parts of Flutter, such as Paddy Power and Sky Bet.

Tombola said in a statement that it had “communicated a number of proposed changes to our customer service teams following an extensive operational review”.

“As a result, a number of colleagues will now take part in a formal consultation process that will include significant opportunities for redeployment within the business, but will also unfortunately lead to a number of redundancies,” the company added.

The announcement of the possible job cuts comes amid early signs of a slowdown in UK online betting in the wake of proposals for tougher regulation.

Ministers this year announced reforms to reduce problem gambling, including financial affordability checks on certain customers and stake limits on online slots. The UK government is overseeing consultations on how to implement the changes.

In trading updates last month, William Hill owner 888 issued a profit warning and Ladbrokes owner Entain cut its full-year revenue forecasts, blaming regulatory reform as well as sporting results that favoured punters.

Analysts will be watching Flutter’s third-quarter results, which are due to be published in early November, for signs of a slowdown in UK revenues. However, analysts at Jefferies said in a note last month that they “anticipate ongoing momentum” for Flutter’s UK sales.

Last year, Tombola generated sales of £117 million and posted a £25 million pretax profit, according to accounts filed with Companies House. In the six months to the end of June this year, Flutter’s UK and Ireland division, of which Tombola is a part, generated £396 million in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation, up from £369 million during the same period last year. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2023