Roughly 7,270 roles have been cut across 36 announced events in gambling, iGaming and prediction markets since November 2025, about 6,420 of them in 2026 alone. Most of the people in that number were hired for this year.
The 2026 World Cup was the event the industry staffed up for through the pandemic boom, the remote-hiring years and the first wave of newly regulated markets. It arrived, it delivered the traffic, and the cuts happened through it anyway. This is an update to our March report, iGaming Layoffs 2026: Thousands of Cuts Across the Sector, and grouped by what actually caused each round.
The year everyone hired for
The tournament was not the disappointment some expected. Optimove Insights, pooling data from leading sportsbooks covering around 26 million active monthly bettors between April and July 2026, put first-time depositors at 179% of the regular-season baseline in the United States, 194% in Europe and 314% in Latin America. On the Spain v Argentina final on 19 July, those figures reached 257%, 254% and 351%. DraftKings processed 2 million bets on the final alone and reported volume up 650% on 2022.
“The handle has been way over expectations. I think it’s bigger than March Madness,” said Johnny Avello, director of race and sportsbook operations at DraftKings, according to Casino.org.
The qualifier came from Optimove’s own chief executive. Pini Yakuel noted in the same study that “more bettors do not automatically mean deeper engagement or higher long-term value.” Acquisition was a record. Retention is still unproven, and the sector was already cutting on the assumption that the second number would not save the first.
Some of the cuts landed inside the tournament window. Optimove cut 10% of its own staff on 17 June, six days into the group stage, the same day Robinhood cut 290 jobs. Bragg went on 9 July, PokerStars on 10 July, IGT’s electronic table games division on 15 July, Entain on 16 July. The final was played on 19 July.
For as long as most of us have worked in this industry, a version of this has come around every three or four years. A market or a vertical opens, the large groups buy, the mid-sized companies hire to keep pace, and when the capital cycle turns the headcount comes out, usually from the acquired business and the back office rather than from the buyer.
What is different this time is where the pressure is coming from at once. Prediction markets have pulled volume and capital out of state-regulated US sportsbooks. Sweepstakes, social and crypto casinos have absorbed both players and staff. US restrictions are loosening while European ones tighten. And Brazil, which one of our readers called “the promised land” in the comments on LinkedIn, opened on 1 January 2025 and is now facing Bill 5,153/2026, filed by Federal Deputy Caroline de Toni of the Liberal Party (PL), which would revoke every federal licence issued by the Secretariat of Prizes and Bets within 180 days of approval, block site access and suspend payment flows. Elections are on 4 October. The Workers’ Party has its own ban bill on the table, so the pressure is coming from both sides of the chamber.
Running underneath all of it is AI. Seven companies in this dataset named it directly in the announcement: Playtika, Bragg in both rounds, Gambling.com Group, Optimove, LSports, GiG and DraftKings. That is no longer a stated efficiency ambition. In at least one case it is a measurable substitution, with 80% of new code AI-generated at the company that cut a quarter of its staff.
The United Kingdom: the duty rise arrives
The Remote Gaming Duty went from 21% to 40%, announced in the November 2025 Budget and in force from April 2026. Five companies named it directly in cutting roles, accounting for roughly 1,410 jobs between them. Entain put the annual tax impact on its business at about £200m.
Entain
| Date | Official statement | Roles affected | Reason given |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16 July 2026 | ~500 roles (~2% of global workforce) | 500 | Corporate, product and technology cuts to absorb the RGD rise from 21% to 40%, a roughly £200m annual tax impact |
The scale of the exposure is visible in the group’s own reporting. UK and Ireland led Entain’s Q1 2026 online growth at 13%, which is exactly the revenue base the new rate applies to. Reuters reported the cut as a cost measure rather than a trading response.
Betfred
| Date | Official statement | Roles affected | Reason given |
|---|---|---|---|
| 31 July 2026 | 132 shops proposed for closure; ~600 jobs at risk | 600 | Retail closure consultation blaming National Insurance, wage inflation and gambling taxes |
This is the largest single UK headcount event of the year, ahead of Entain’s 500. It is also the most contested: HM Treasury publicly disputed the tax link on 4 August. Our full report on the 132 shop closures covers the consultation timeline.
Rank Group
| Date | Official statement | Roles affected | Reason given |
|---|---|---|---|
| July 2026 (earnings) | Undisclosed | 200 | Staff reductions to offset the near-doubling of RGD, cited as a driver of the upgraded profit outlook |
| 11 August 2026 | Closure consultation on Grosvenor Reading Central; no figure | 60 | £2.3m of losses over six years and a £500k operating loss in the last year |
Rank is the clearest example of the same duty producing two different kinds of loss in one summer: a corporate trim reported at earnings by The Lines, then a single venue closure consultation where the people affected all work in the same building.
Paddy Power (Flutter UK & Ireland)
| Date | Official statement | Roles affected | Reason given |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25 March 2026 | Consultation opened; no figure | 50 | Marketing restructure across retail, brand and content, citing UK tax changes and technology consolidation |
Reported by CDC Gaming as preparation rather than reaction, three weeks before the new rate took effect. The wider group context is in Flutter’s 2025 annual report property performance.
Playtech (Sun Bingo)
| Date | Official statement | Roles affected | Reason given |
|---|---|---|---|
| 26 March 2026 | Operational review; no figures, no outcome announced | 0 | Review of the News UK white-label bingo business triggered by the April RGD rise, with Sun Bingo revenue already down 17% |
Included because it is still open. No job losses have been announced and it contributes zero to the total, but the review has been running since March with no published outcome. Anyone working on that account has had six months of it. The UK market backdrop is in the UKGC’s final market report, and the tax pass-through effect across listed operators in Bally’s Intralot guidance.
The M&A hangover: bought, integrated, cut
Roughly 1,393 roles in this group belong to companies that were acquired, integrated and then reduced, usually 12 to 24 months after the deal closed. If you joined through an acquisition in 2024 or 2025, this is the section that describes your year.
IGT
| Date | Official statement | Roles affected | Reason given |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24 March 2026 | ~700 roles (~10% of global workforce) | 700 | Post-Everi merger restructuring to simplify structure and reduce duplication |
| 15 July 2026 | Electronic table games division to close in 2027; no figure | 50 | Refocus on core slots, four months after the 10% global cut |
The largest supplier-side event of the year, reported by SBC Americas and covered in detail in IGT Cuts 700 Jobs Globally. Where IGT now sits among its peers is in our ranking of the top B2B gambling suppliers by revenue.
Lottomatica (PWO, Belgrade)
| Date | Official statement | Roles affected | Reason given |
|---|---|---|---|
| 23 March 2026 | 348 employees | 348 | Entire Serbian subsidiary terminated in a single day following the SKS365 integration and centralisation of functions |
The single most abrupt event in the dataset. An entire subsidiary was closed in one day, and the USB union demanded talks on the role AI played in the decision. Our report on the 348 dismissals has the union’s position in full.
Aristocrat Interactive
| Date | Official statement | Roles affected | Reason given |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24 March 2026 | ~120 jobs; Malta office closure | 120 | Full exit from white-label iGaming after the segment was judged non-core and marginally profitable |
Filed with Eurofound. A whole office closing in one jurisdiction is a different problem for the people in it than a percentage cut spread across a group, and Malta absorbed this one. The market context is in Malta: The Home of iGaming.
Flutter (PokerStars)
| Date | Official statement | Roles affected | Reason given |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 July 2026 | Undisclosed; multiple jurisdictions | 75 | Poker roles cut including North America as PokerStars folds deeper into FanDuel |
FanDuel Sports Network (Main Street Sports)
| Date | Official statement | Roles affected | Reason given |
|---|---|---|---|
| February 2026 | Regional office layoffs; no figure | 100 | Regional sports network affiliates winding down |
Reported by Awful Announcing. Flutter appears five times across this report, more than any other group, at roughly 830 estimated roles.
The United States: prediction markets rewrite the org chart
About 1,190 roles sit in this group. The common thread is not weak trading. It is a structural bet that federal prediction markets, not state-regulated sportsbooks, are where the next decade of volume lives. Our feature The Trillion-Dollar Trade sets out how that shift took hold.
The Trillion-Dollar Trade: How Prediction Markets Are Reshaping US Sports Betting
DraftKings
| Date | Official statement | Roles affected | Reason given |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24 February 2026 | Undisclosed; analyst estimate ~5% | 275 | Reorganising teams around priorities and cutting G&A, citing prediction-market competition and AI adoption; ~$30m projected savings |
Reported by the Boston Globe.
Underdog Fantasy
| Date | Official statement | Roles affected | Reason given |
|---|---|---|---|
| 27 February 2026 | 125+ employees (more than 20% of workforce) | 125 | Pivot from DFS and state-regulated betting to federal prediction markets; two-thirds of fraud and customer operations cut |
The cleanest example of a pivot showing up as an org chart. SBC Americas reported that fraud and customer operations, the two functions a regulated sportsbook cannot run without.
FanDuel (Flutter US)
| Date | Official statement | Roles affected | Reason given |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 June 2026 | “A few hundred” of roughly 5,000 employees | 300 | Prediction markets, profitability pressure and increased AI use; third round in under a year, following a CEO change and a $300m prediction-markets pivot |
| 30 March 2026 | Over 100 jobs | 105 | Wind-down of the FanDuel TV linear network and the peer-to-peer Picks product through late 2026 |
Three rounds in under a year at the largest US sportsbook, per Front Office Sports. Our coverage of the TV and Picks wind-down has the product timeline.
FanDuel Cuts Over 100 Jobs as TV Network and Picks Product Wind Down
Robinhood
| Date | Official statement | Roles affected | Reason given |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17 June 2026 | 290 jobs (10% of workforce) | 290 | Flattening management layers despite record prediction-markets volume |
The outlier of the year. Robinhood cut a tenth of its workforce while the business line everyone else is chasing was setting records. Regulatory pressure on that vertical is building on both sides of the Atlantic, from Spain blocking Kalshi and Polymarket to Malta drafting the first EU framework.
PENN Entertainment and Penn Interactive
| Date | Official statement | Roles affected | Reason given |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 2026 | Corporate restructure; 2 senior executive roles eliminated | 15 | Technology consolidated under Aaron LaBerge; senior management layer removed |
| 18 May 2026 | More than 75 employees | 80 | Cuts across theScore Bet, online casino and social gaming; third round in under a year |
Reported by BeInCrypto and SBC Americas.
North America’s land-based floor
Around 600 roles, and the group with the least ambiguity about cause. These are closures, not restructures.
Maverick Gaming
| Date | Official statement | Roles affected | Reason given |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 2026 (WARN) | 65 jobs; Silver Dollar SeaTac closure effective 30 June 2026 | 65 | Chapter 11 closure after a property sale fell through; tribal-only sports betting locked cardrooms out of the vertical |
| 5 June 2026 (WARN) | 132 jobs; Mill Creek and Mountlake Terrace closures effective 31 July 2026 | 132 | Chapter 11 closure of two Washington cardrooms |
| 31 August 2026 (WARN) | 238 jobs; Riverside and Great American closures effective 1 November 2026 | 238 | Chapter 11 closure of two Tukwila cardrooms, citing tribal competition, rising labour costs and debt service |
Three WARN filings totalling 435 jobs, reported by Casino.org and KIRO 7. Only 197 people have separated so far. The 238 Tukwila roles are noticed but do not take effect until 1 November 2026, which means those employees are working out a two-month notice period as this is published.
Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority and Rivalry Corp.
| Date | Official statement | Roles affected | Reason given |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 December 2025 | Mohegan: undisclosed | 100 | Cost-structure optimisation and staffing realignment for fiscal 2026 |
| February 2026 | Rivalry: “significant workforce reduction” | 65 | Player activity suspended entirely while the board weighed asset sales, followed by a C-suite and board exodus after the Ontario shutdown |
Mohegan’s cut, reported by Hartford Business, came alongside its CEO stepping down. Rivalry is the only company here that stopped taking bets before it stopped paying staff. The wider Canadian picture is in our Canada online gambling rankings and the Alberta launch.
AI as the stated reason
This is the group that did not exist in the 2022 cycle. Roughly 1,715 roles were cut by companies that named AI or automation in the announcement itself, rather than leaving it to be inferred. For B2B suppliers and affiliates in particular, this is the section worth reading twice.
Gambling.com Group
| Date | Official statement | Roles affected | Reason given |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 May 2026 | ~25% of workforce (~150) | 150 | Transition to an “AI-first company” after Q1 adjusted EBITDA fell 43%; 80% of new code AI-generated; ~$13m annualised savings |
The clearest case in the dataset, per Gambling Insider. A quarter of the workforce went at a company that had already moved four fifths of its new code output to AI.
Playtika
| Date | Official statement | Roles affected | Reason given |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16 November 2025 | ~20% of workforce (700 to 800) | 750 | December 2025 reduction amid stalled growth and revenue pressure |
| 14 January 2026 | ~15% of workforce (~500) | 500 | Abandoning an unsustainable growth strategy; pivot to AI and automation |
1,250 roles across two rounds two months apart, reported by Calcalistech. The largest single-company total in this report.
Bragg Gaming Group
| Date | Official statement | Roles affected | Reason given |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 January 2026 | 12% of global headcount | 60 | Cost realignment and EBITDA growth, roughly €4.5m annualised savings, described as an AI-first shift |
| 9 July 2026 | ~19% of global workforce | 90 | Second 2026 restructuring, roughly €6m incremental annual savings for about €10.5m combined |
Two rounds in six months, first reported by iGaming Business and then by The iGaming Europe in July. Roughly 69% of Bragg’s headcount sits in Slovenia, which is where most of this landed.
Optimove, LSports and GiG
| Date | Official statement | Roles affected | Reason given |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 February 2026 | GiG: “dozens” of tech roles; €4.5m savings target | 65 | Brazil launch delay, FX headwinds and a roughly 40% guidance cut, with AI tooling used to close the cost gap |
| 11 May 2026 | LSports: at least 39 employees | 45 | AI and automation restructure, targeting verticals beyond sport |
| 17 June 2026 | Optimove: 10% of staff | 55 | AI restructuring push confirmed by CEO Pini Yakuel |
GiG’s round, reported by iGaming Chronicle, is as much a Brazil story as an AI one. LSports cut in an AI-driven restructure in May, and Optimove cut in June, five weeks before publishing the World Cup study quoted at the top of this report.
If AI is now part of your job description whether you asked for it or not, The iGaming Europe runs an AI for iGaming hub with news, prompts and workflows built specifically for iGaming work, from compliance and CRM to affiliate content and trading support.
Eastern Europe and the Baltics: the back office
The region that absorbed the sector’s back-office and trading build-out is absorbing the reversal. Lottomatica’s 348 in Belgrade is the largest event here and sits in the M&A group above. Two more belong to this one.
| Date | Official statement | Roles affected | Reason given |
|---|---|---|---|
| February 2026 | bet365: contractor arrangements restructured; no figure | 50 | Operational reset across trading teams including Bulgaria |
| 6 March 2026 | Bombay Group: more than half of 164 staff | 85 | Daily table games judged uneconomical; return to an on-demand model. Second round after November 2025 |
The Bombay Group cut in Tallinn removed more than half a 164-person operation in a city where the live casino talent pool is small and everybody knows everybody. Add Bragg’s Slovenia base and GiG’s tech roles and the regional concentration is hard to miss. Market context is in our Bulgaria market report and Europe’s five key iGaming regions.
Bombay Group Cuts Over Half Its Staff in Tallinn Casino Restructure
Australia and New Zealand
| Date | Official statement | Roles affected | Reason given |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 January 2026 | Star Entertainment: corporate office to close “in its current form” | 600 | Brisbane HQ wound down, with management handed back to individual casino precincts under new CEO Bruce Mathieson Jr |
| 11 August 2026 | SkyCity: ~200 to 250 proposed roles | 225 | Weaker customer spend, higher labour and compliance costs and an operating-model reset, predominantly NZ corporate and back-of-house |
Star’s figure comes from Casino.org citing AFR reporting, which makes it the least certain large number in this report. SkyCity’s proposal was reported by BusinessDesk.
What the numbers actually say
Of the ~7,270 total, roughly 4,500 roles are company-stated or exact, about 1,300 are derived from a published percentage against a known workforce base, and about 620 are inferred where no figure was published.
Three drivers account for most of it. AI was named by seven companies. UK tax was named by five, covering roughly 1,400 roles. Prediction markets were named by four. Repeat cutting is the pattern all three follow: Playtika, Bragg and IGT each cut twice, PENN and FanDuel three times each in under a year, and Maverick filed three WARNs.
What the data does not show, and what anyone who has spent a decade in this sector already knows, is that most of these people do not leave. They move. Out of corporate operator roles and into prediction markets, sweepstakes operators, crypto casinos and smaller companies that were not hiring through LinkedIn job posts in the first place. Our iGaming Salaries Report 2025-2026 covers where the compensation has followed.
What happens next
Three things are still open. The 238 Maverick roles in Tukwila do not take effect until 1 November, so that count is noticed but not yet separated. Playtech’s Sun Bingo review has been running since March with no published outcome. And Brazil votes on 4 October with Bill 5,153/2026 live in Congress, which means the market that drove a chunk of 2024 and 2025 hiring could spend 2027 unwinding it.
The fourth is quieter. Every operator that reported record World Cup acquisition in July has a Q4 in which to prove those depositors stayed. If they did not, the companies in this report will have cut before the evidence arrived, and the ones that have not cut yet will be reading the same numbers.
