The gambling operator has conducted an “extensive operational review” of its online bingo brand.
UK.- The Irish gambling giant Flutter has announced that it expects to make around 250 layoffs at Tombola, the online bingo brand that it acquired for £402m in January last year. The move follows an operational review of the brand, whose head office is in Sunderland in the North East.
The layoffs are expected to affect the brand’s customer experience team, including those working on chat, customer support and safeplay. iGB reports that a Tombola spokesman told it that the company aims to offer opportunities for redeployment.
The statement said: “Today we have 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 colleagues involved in this process have been informed and our priority is to support them and their teams through this period of change.”
The company said that its head office will remain in Sunderland. It noted that the brand’s workforce has increased under Flutter’s ownership until now, rising from 769 in 2021 to 847.
For Q1 of this year, London-listed Flutter Entertainment reported that revenue was up 46 per cent year-on-year at £2.4bn. Sports betting revenue rose 61 per cent to £1.49bn and igaming 44 per cent to £916m amid rapid US growth and an expansion of Flutter’s international business through its acquisition of Sisal.
Last month, Flutter bought a 51 per cent stake in MaxBet for €141m. It says acquiring a stake in the Serbian omnichannel sports betting and gaming operator forms part of its expansion plans in the Balkans. It will have the option to buy the remaining 49 per cent of MaxBet in 2029.
