Bet365 boss Denise Coates takes home more than £200m despite big pay cut

Bet365 boss Denise Coates comfortably managed to make more than £200 million last year despite taking a more than £36 million pay cut.

The company’s financial accounts show that the best-paid director at the gambling company – believed to be majority owner Ms Coates – took home more than £213 million in pay last year, not including her dividends.

The figure makes her one of the best-paid employees in the world, and means that she pockets about a third of the total that the business pays to all its nearly 6,100 employees.

As the majority owner of the business, Ms Coates also received tens of millions of pounds in dividends. It is unclear exactly how much of the dividend she pocketed, however, she is entitled to more than half of the £100 million payments.

Ms Coates, whose father and brother are the joint chairmen of Stoke City Football Club, built her Stoke-based family bookmakers into a multi-billion pound enterprise over the last two decades.

In the year to the end of March 2022, the business turned over £2.9 billion, a rise of 2% compared to the 12 months that came before.

As the company spent heavily on advertising and invested in its IT, and as its wage bill went up, Bet365 saw profits crater. Operating profit fell to £15.4 million from £285.5 million in the 12-month period.

The business also reported a sizable jump in its emissions, which rose by 5.6% during the year. The increase came as the business installed new under-pitch heating at Stoke’s football stadium, but also reduced gas consumption by 16% by running its boilers more efficiently.