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Bet365 boss Denise Coates saw her annual payout from her family’s gambling empire nearly halve to £150m last year, a payday that still cements her position as one of the UK’s richest executives.
Coates — who has the highest salary at the company — received a salary of £95m in the year ending March 2024, according to accounts filed at Companies House, which is less than 221 million pounds in the previous year.
In addition, it needed more than half of the dividends paid out by the UK-based group, which equates to more than £55m of the £110m dividend for the year. This is an increase on the £100m paid out the year before.
In total, this means Coates was paid around £150m, down from the £270m she took in salary and dividends last year.
The latest accounts mean Coates has been paid more than £2.5 billion over the past 15 years, according to Company House filings, for her role in overseeing the rapid rise and success of the family’s gambling empire, which is still based in their hometown of Stoke-on. – Trent.
Coates, who has a degree in economics from the University of Sheffield, convinced her father to pledge his chain of bookmakers for seed investment in the online gaming group, which began operating from temporary offices in Stoke in 2001. The high street chain was sold in 2005 as would allow the business to focus exclusively on the growing online betting market.
Coates has decided to keep the Stoke business and run it as a family, with more than half of the group still owned by her and another significant stake held by her brother John, who is joint chief executive. Analysts and former employees say the two – who rarely speak to reporters – still oversee most operations, development, legal and financial affairs.
The group is the largest employer in the Stoke area and one of the largest private companies paying corporation tax, although many of its competitors have based their operations overseas.
Bet365 accounts show that £120m was donated in the last financial year to the Denise Coates Foundation, a registered charity, up from £100m the year before.
The group reported pre-tax profits of £596.3m for the year, compared with a loss of £72.6m a year earlier as it expanded in regions such as North America. Revenue rose 9 per cent to £3.7bn in the year to March 2024.
During the year, the company said it sought licenses in new markets with “commercially viable regulation”, with licenses granted in multiple US states and “additional resources dedicated to further expanding 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 — up from a loss of £12.4m in 2023. However, accounts show it was demerged in July 2024, with controlling interest now owned by John Coates, brother of Denise Coates.
