On May 15, 2026, Gambling.com Group announced it is cutting approximately 150 employees, representing 25% of its roughly 600-person workforce. Incoming CEO Kevin McCrystle framed the cuts as a restructuring for an "AI-first world," noting the company has been focused on AI adoption for the past 18 months.
McCrystle stated that 80% of new code at the company is now AI-generated, and that the restructuring involves "resetting team structures, roles, and processes" across the entire organization rather than concentrating cuts in one department. The company expects approximately $13 million in annual savings from the reduction.
This is one of the most explicit AI-replacement layoff announcements in 2026. Rather than using vague language about "efficiency," Gambling.com Group's CEO directly quantified how much work AI has absorbed (80% of new code) and stated that the company is restructuring its entire team to fit an AI-first operating model. The cuts span marketing, sales, and engineering.
Gambling.com Group is a Nasdaq-listed performance marketing company that drives traffic to online sportsbooks and casinos. Its business model is highly dependent on content production and technology, both areas where AI is most aggressively replacing human labor. The 25% workforce reduction is among the deepest single-round AI-attributed cuts of 2026.
Combined with Penn Entertainment's same-week cuts and DraftKings' earlier reductions, the gambling and sports betting sector is emerging as one of the hardest-hit industries in this cycle. After years of hiring aggressively to capture market share during the U.S. sports betting legalization wave, operators and their supply chain are now shedding staff as the market matures and AI tools reduce the need for large content and engineering teams.