JOBS JUMP BY 469 – AS SEES PROFIT FALL
Gambling giant upbeat despite setback:
ONLINE gambling giant bet365 has seen its record-breaking results streak come to an end – after revenue fell to £2.8 billion.
The company’s accounts for the 53 weeks to March 29, 2020, reveal the Etruria firm’s turnover fell by eight per cent – down from £3.06 billion in 2019.
Operating profit for the group – which includes bet365 and Stoke City Football Club – also took a major hit of almost 75 per cent.
It fell to £194.7 million from £758.3 million in 2019 and includes a £87.2 million loss from the football club.
Bosses say the latter part of the 2019/2020 financial year was impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, which brought almost all international sporting events to a stop.
But while the amount bet365 customers wagered fell by eight per cent, staff numbers at the company rose by 469 to 5,177, up from 4,708 employees last year.
This includes 4,848 bet365 staff and 329 full-time and match-day staff.
bet365’s highest-paid director, Denise Coates CBE, was able to cement her position as the UK’S top paid boss with a pay packet of £421 million in 2020.
This is in addition to a £95 million dividend paid to bet365’s four directors – including Denise, her brother John and father Peter Coates.
This is an increase on the £92.5 million dividend they received the previous year. In the financial report, joint group chief executive Denise said: “I am pleased to report that the Group continued to make considerable progress during the period, particularly in the priority area of safer gambling, where significant investment and developments have been made.
“The period also saw the initial impact of Covid-19, with sport at all levels halted across the world. I am delighted with how the group responded and adapted to these challenging circumstances.
“We continued to operate the business successfully throughout the lockdowns with business continuity plans enacted resulting in staff being able to work from home while significant investment was also made to ensure the office environments were Covid-secure.
“With the mass cancellation of international sporting events, between March and May 2020, the business switched its focus to alternative offerings, such as virtual sports and esports betting whilst also experiencing a significant migration of customers from sports betting to gaming.”
During the pandemic, bet365 announced a multi-million pound support package for its staff which included a pledge that it would make no pay reductions or redundancies for at least five months.
The company did not take any Government support or make use of the furlough scheme, either.
The Denise Coates Foundation, which supports charitable causes, received an £85 million contribution from bet365 during the period. The charity subsequently donated £10 million to the UHNM charity to support staff and patients at Royal Stoke Hospital and County Hospital, Stafford, in the fight against Covid-19.
Pandemic and relegation play big part in City figures - see page 46
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