Paddy Power’s Employees Informed Of Restructure; Gambling Taxes Bite

Paddy Power is pushing ahead with a full restructure of its UK marketing team, according to reports. An internal email is believed to have been sent by Michelle Spillane, Paddy Power Online’s Managing Director, which detailed the reshuffling plans will also have an impact on the brand strategy department.

It is thought that the marketing team have been made aware of the plans; however, at this stage, the parameters of such discussions were not disclosed. Management is expected to carry out a full review over the coming weeks, and a clever picture should emerge.

Mapping potential solutions

Paddy Power is a core part of the UK gambling giant Flutter, but the reorganisation of the marketing team could entail redeployments and potential redundancies. This development was confirmed by Flutter.

A Flutter UK & Ireland spokesperson said:

“We can confirm that Paddy Power is reviewing the structure of its marketing operation in light of the changes announced in the Budget.

“These changes will unfortunately place a small number of colleagues at risk of redundancy. We will be working closely with those impacted through this process.”

Gambling taxes starting to bite

Inevitably, the hike in gambling taxes announced in the November budget by Rachel Reeves were bound to take hold. Even before the steep rise in Remote Gaming Duty (RGD) of online casino and sports betting were revealed, Paddy Power had confirmed they would close 57 betting shops across the UK and Ireland.

Various reports had indicated that it would put as many as 247 jobs at risk. As far as the marketing team is concerned, operators are bracing themselves for a different landscape. Evoke and Entain, owners of William Hill and Ladbrokes respectively, along with Flutter, have both been considering a significant drop in marketing spend this year, widely believed to be around 20%.

Moreover, Flutter’s other major UK betting brand, Sky Bet, confirmed last year it would be shifting its UK headquarters to Malta in a move that could save Flutter as much as £55 million. The fallout from the gambling taxes issue is well documented, but Kevin Harrington, Flutter UK & Ireland’s CEO, is hopeful his company can recalibrate adeptly.

He said:

“It’s a seismic shock to the market – there are other operators that don’t have our scale, that will struggle more. And we’ll see, and we’ll hope, that we can take up some of that share, like any other business would look to take advantage of any structural change in the market.”

Marketing a pillar of Paddy Power’s success

Undoubtedly, marketing has played a central role in Paddy Power’s success. With its tongue-in-cheek style, Paddy Power has managed to connect with bettors and gain more exposure.

Among the most memorable ads produced was one involving boxing promoter Eddie Hearn and actor Danny Dyer for a Christmas special in 2024, where Hearn took over a football club (Hardlypool United FC) amid plenty of fanfare. The campaign attracted over 12,000 views, and the skit-style presentations have resonated, which in turn has underpinned Paddy Power’s exponential social media growth.

Today, Paddy Power has over 66,000 YouTube subscribers, 277,000 Instagram followers, and they have attracted over 8.7 million views for their TikTok posts. But with news of a restructure, whether we will continue to see a wave of comical ads moving forward, only time will tell.