Billionaire betting queen tops pay stakes as she picks up a £265m salary jackpot
THE woman who runs online gambling firm Bet365 pocketed £265million last year making her probably Britain’s best-paid boss.
Denise Coates’ pay-out dwarfs the amount handed out to her rivals and shines a spotlight on the huge profits made by gambling firms.
The 51-year-old mother of five built Stoke-on-Trent company Bet365 from nothing into an internet titan with more than 22million customers worldwide.
In the year to March, £52.6billion was wagered by gamblers and the firm made a profit of £682.4million.
Mrs Coates picked up a salary of £220million – plus £45million in dividends as she owns more than 50 per cent of the shares in the business. The bonanza is 9,500 times the average UK salary and 1,300 times more than Prime Minister Theresa May earns.
It is more than four times as much as the £47.1million handed to the best paid FTSE 100 boss last year, Jeff Fairburn of housebuilder Persimmon.
Kenny Alexander, head of rival bookie GVC Holdings – the owner of Ladbrokes – was paid £18.4million.
In its annual report, Bet365 said higher pay for senior staff has ‘been key to the development of the overarching corporate strategy that has successfully driven the group forward’.
It triggered protests from anti-gambling campaigners, who warned that Bet365 is encouraging the poorest to risk their savings. Mike Dixon, head of addiction charity Addaction, said Mrs Coates’ pay is 26 times higher than the sum spent by the industry on helping problem gamblers.
He said: ‘We know problem gambling affects more than 2million people.
‘We need a proper levy on gambling industry profits so more people can get help and support.’
Luke Hildyard, director of the High Pay Centre, said: ‘Why does someone who is already a billionaire need to take such an obscene amount of money out of their company?’
Many of the company’s rivals base themselves in tax havens but Bet365 has a British HQ and paid £78.2million tax in its last financial year.