Paddy Power Betfair plans to cut up to 300 jobs from its Irish operations in a move stemming from the €10 billion merger of the two gambling businesses in February.

One of the deal’s aims was to deliver savings of £50 million (€62 million) a year, part of which will come from cutting 650 jobs from the overall group’s workforce of 7,200.

The company is likely to reduce numbers in the Republic by up to 300.

The areas where jobs will go include professional posts such as legal, finance and HR, as well as technology, and trading and risk.

Those areas will also be targeted in Britain, where 350 jobs will go.

The reductions are primarily focused on positions that are duplicated across the enlarged group.

However, the 600-odd Paddy Power bookie shops in Ireland and Britain will not be hit. Betfair had no bricks-and-mortar retail business before it joined forces with its rival.

Single offices

Its main office in Britain will be in Hammersmith, London.

These moves are expected to be complete by next August, the same month in which the company is due to publish its first set of interim results.

It began telling workers in both jurisdictions about the planned cuts yesterday.

It intends offering Irish staff their statutory redundancy entitlement and four weeks’ pay for every year of service.

This comes to a total of six weeks’ pay for every year of service.

The group will also discuss possible redeployment options, although it is understood that the opportunities for this are likely to be limited.

It was also suggested yesterday that many of those facing redundancy are likely to find new jobs quickly, as their skills are in demand.

Bookmaker Paddy Power and betting exchange Betfair merged in early February to create one of the world’s biggest gambling businesses, with turnover of about €2 billion and a stock market value of €10 billion.

The enlarged group has betting-shop chains in Ireland and Britain, and online and mobile operations in Ireland, Australia, Britain, Italy and the United States.