The bookie wins. . . AGAIN!
Bosses of Ladbrokes and Foxy Bingo scoop £80m in just three years
THE bosses of gambling firm GVC were paid nearly £28m last year – taking their earnings since 2016 to £80m.
Chief executive Kenny Alexander took home £19.1m while chairman Lee Feldman was handed £8.5m, according to the annual report.
It was the third consecutive year of bumper pay for the pair, who are among the highest earners in Britain.
The latest bonanza came after Foxy Bingo owner GVC bought Ladbrokes Coral for £3.2bn in March 2018.
The bulging pay deals sparked a backlash among critics who branded the figures ‘extraordinary even by the standards of big business’.
Former Conservative party leader Iain Duncan Smith said: ‘I think this exemplifies the real problem which is that the gambling industry is awash with cash, because we have such a liberated gambling industry. They are able to lash this out to their chief executives.
‘ Until the industry is properly reformed and we get in place proper restrictions on advertising, and the government and gambling companies own up to the fact that gambling addiction is harming people just like drugs or alcohol, these types of pay awards should not be given.’
The revelations came just weeks after Alexander and Feldman stunned investors by selling shares in the firm, netting £13.7m and £6m respectively. They could now face a backlash from investors who have already voiced concerns over fat cat pay at GVC.
At last year’s annual meeting, 43.9pc of shareholders voted against the remuneration report.
GVC owns bookmakers Ladbrokes and Coral as well as brands including Sportingbet, Foxy Bingo, Gala and Party Poker. Alexander, 50, and Feldman, 51, have benefited from so- called ‘legacy awards’ relating to GVC’s acquisition of online gambling company bwin.party in 2015.
Luke Hildyard of the High Pay Centre said: ‘These are extraordinarily large sums of money, even by the standards of big business. The £19.1m paid to Kenneth Alexander is roughly five times the £3.9m made by the median FTSE 100 chief executive.’
He added: ‘ The payments are likely to be controversial, given that the effect of individual executives on company performance is highly questionable.’
Alexander, a Scotsman, had a base salary of £858,000 in 2018.
But this was topped up with £99,000 worth of benefits, a £1.8m bonus and £ 16.4m in legacy awards. American Feldman was paid a base salary of £350,000 plus nearly £8.2m in legacy awards.
Investors are likely to be preparing another pay revolt at GVC’s annual meeting in June. Last year’s backlash forced Peter Isola, a non- executive director and member of the remuneration committee, to step down.
GVC shares slipped 0.5pc, or 3.2p, to 649.6p yesterday. They are now down 45pc from their high of 1184p last August, costing GVC its place on the FTSE 100. Alexander still holds 1.7m shares worth £11m, and has promised not to sell any more while at the helm of GVC. Feldman owns 287,408 shares worth £1.9m.
Investors have taken a dim view of the attempts to cash in, at a time when bookies are bracing for a hit caused by the crackdown on fixed-odds betting terminals.
Changes last month, introduced by the Government, have cut the maximum stake gamblers can place on the addictive machines from £100 to £2.
Industry bodies warn this could lead to swathes of betting shop closures and job losses.
Bookies are also under increasing scrutiny from policy-makers looking to alleviate problem gambling, as the Mail’s Stop The Gambling Predators campaign highlighted the dangers of adverts during live sports games.
Alexander last week called for a complete ban on betting adverts during TV sports broadcasts, and revealed Ladbrokes would cancel its shirt sponsorship deals so football fans can watch their team without seeing incentives to bet. Ladbrokes has contracts with the Scottish Premiership, Charlton and Sunderland.