Bet365 boss Denise Coates’ pay almost halved to £150mn last year

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Bet365 boss Denise Coates saw her annual pay from her family’s gambling empire cut to £150mn last year, a payday that still confirms her place as one of the UK’s richest executives.

Coates – the company’s top earner – took home a salary of £95mn at the end of March 2024, according to accounts filed at Companies House. £221mn last year.

In addition, it accounted for more than half of the UK-based group’s share payouts, compared to more than £55mn of the £110mn paid out for the year. This was an increase of £100mn from the previous year.

In total, this means Coates has been paid around £150m, compared with the £270m she took in wages and dividends last year.

Recent accounts mean Coates has been paid more than £2.5bn over the past 15 years, according to Company House records, for his role in overseeing the rapid growth and success of the family’s gambling empire, still based in his hometown of Stoke-on-Trent.

Coates, a graduate of the University of Sheffield Economics, convinced her father to reserve the chain of bookies for the first investment in the online gaming group, which began in temporary offices in Stoke in 2001. The high street chain was sold in 2005 to allow the business. To focus exclusively on the growing market of online betting.

Coats She chose to keep the business in stock and run by the family, with more than half of the group still owned by her and her brother John, with another significant stake, who is joint chief executive. Analysts and former employees say the couple – who rarely speak to the press – still oversee most operations, development, legal and financial matters.

The group is one of the biggest employers and corporation tax payers in the Stoke area, although many rivals have based their operations offshore.

Bet365 accounts show that £120mn was donated to the Dennis Coates Foundation, a registered charity, in the last financial year, up from £100mn a year earlier.

The group reported pre-tax profits of £596.3mn. Revenue rose 9% to £3.7bn in the year to March 2024.

During the year, the company said it pursued licenses in new markets “on a commercially viable basis,” granting licenses in several U.S. states and “additional resources to further expand our footprint in North and South America.”

The group was the majority owner of Stoke City Football Club, which made a pre-tax loss of £30.3m – in 2015. That’s up from £12.4mn lost in 2023. But the bills show this breaking down by July 2024. A controlling stake is now owned by John Coates, Dennis Coates’ brother.