Ladbrokes boss strikes it rich with £7m jackpot

GVC’S chief executive is sitting on a windfall of almost £7m after exploiting a bonus scheme to snap up shares on the cheap.

Shay Segev, who took over as the owner of Ladbrokes Coral from Kenny Alexander last month, has bought close to 1.5m shares for £3.17 thanks to an incentive plan put in place in 2016.

Those shares are worth £11.4m as GVC’s share price is now £7.66, meaning if he were to sell his holding he would make an immediate profit of around £6.7m.

The purchase, which insiders said was designed to underline his confidence in the company, takes his total holdings to 1.6m shares.

But some will see it as yet another generous bonus scheme for its top executives.

Segev, 44, the former chief operating officer of GVC, took over in July from Alexander, who earned £77m during his 13-year tenure.

He started on a salary of £675,000, less than Ayrshire-born Alexander’s annual pay cheque of £816,000, and will be eligible for bonuses of up to £3.7m per year.

Last week the firm was criticised for refusing to hand back money it took to furlough staff, despite cashing in on an online gambling boom and expanding into the US.

Online profits have surged 53pc to £368.6m in the first half of the year, in part thanks to online sales jumping by almost a fifth.

In a note published yesterday JP Morgan Cazenove raised its target price for GVC’s stock from 1140p to 1,220p.

Analysts said they had greater hopes for its American expansion after the release of its half-yearly results last week.

It has invested $450m in the race to become the market leader in US sports betting and online gaming, and plans to be live in 11 states by the end of the year. Shares dipped 0.4pc, or 3.4p, to 766.4p.