Gambling.com Group has axed around 150 staff, roughly a quarter of its workforce, as the online gaming affiliate grapples with regulatory headwinds and a strategic pivot toward artificial intelligence. The redundancies, confirmed during the company’s Q1 earnings call on May 14, represent a significant structural overhaul for the London-listed group.

Where the Cuts Fell Hardest

The redundancies have hit multiple departments. SEO and finance functions took the heaviest blows. The company’s remote workforce bore the brunt of the restructuring, too. Employees began flagging the changes on LinkedIn ahead of the formal announcement, signalling the moves were already underway when the company made them official.

Around $13 million in annual savings should follow. Gambling.com Group is banking on that figure to shore up margins that have compressed significantly.

The Financial Picture

Q1 revenue came in at $40.4 million, flat year-over-year. Look underneath, though, and the picture darkens. Marketing services revenue fell 5%, while the UK market, Gambling.com Group’s largest, contracted by 30%. Regulatory changes in the United Kingdom and Finland have proven worse than expected, dragging hard on results.

EBITDA margins tell the real story. They’ve collapsed from 39% in the prior year quarter to just 22% most recently. The company’s CFO, Elias Mark, acknowledged a faster-than-planned shift away from SEO channels is now underway, signalling a fundamental change in how the business generates leads.

A Brighter Spot

Not everything is grim, mind you. The company’s sports data services expanded 13% year-over-year and now account for 28% of total revenue. That growth is part of the rationale for the restructuring, with AI investment positioned as the path forward.

For 2026, Gambling.com Group has guided for revenue between $165 million and $170 million, with adjusted EBITDA of $45 million to $50 million. Management has flagged some encouraging early signs in regulatory environments, though it’s not ready to reflect that optimism in formal guidance just yet.

The moves reflect a broader industry pattern of right-sizing cost bases and shifting investment toward technology and data. Whether Gambling.com Group can stabilise revenues whilst executing this transition remains the key question for investors.