The highest paid director of Bet365 Group, believed to be founder Denise Coates, earned a salary of £213.4m in the year to March 2022. It is one of the biggest salaries ever awarded in the UK. She was also entitled to at least half of £100m in dividends, despite a fall in profits.
The campaign group High Pay Centre hit out at the announcement, arguing it served as a reminder that “too much [money] is going to too few people” in the UK economy. Its spokesman Andrew Speke said: “It shows if the government wanted to provide greater support to those struggling and increase the pay of striking public sector workers facing real wage cuts, increasing tax on high incomes and wealth would be one of the most effective ways of funding this.”
Ms Coates founded the Bet365 website in a portable building in Stoke-on-Trent more than 20 years ago. She is thought to be one of Britain’s richest women and among the best-paid bosses in the world.
Bet365 made a profit before tax of £49.8m for the year, taking into account a £26.2m loss from its ownership of Stoke City Football Club, much less than the £469m profit seen in 2021. The group also saw its wage bill go up significantly, with more than 6,000 employees now on the payroll.
In the year to 29 March 2022, the business turned over £2.9bn in total, an increase of 2% compared with the year before. While sales from sports betting fell, online games revenues jumped by 25% during the year. Its report also describes how it invested heavily in advertising and IT systems, having previously benefitted from a boom during the pandemic.
Multi-millionaire makes money from mugs … 
