Bet365 boss Denise Coates pockets bumper payout as profit rises
Bet365’s billionaire founder Denise Coates, the highest paid woman in Britain, paid herself more than £320m last year as the gambling giant increased its profits.
Financial filings show that the company’s highest paid director earned £276.6m in the year ended 31 March, along with a half of a £92.5m dividend.
Read more: Bet365 boss pockets massive £265m salary
The amount beats the £265m Coates paid to herself in the year to the end of March 2018.
Coates, who owns and runs the Stoke-on-Trent-based business with her brother John, father Peter and finance director Will Roseff, was number 19 on the Sunday Times Rich List this year.
She studied econometrics at Sheffield University – earning a first class degree – before joining the family’s high street betting chain. Coates identified the future shift to online betting in 2000, when she established Bet365.
Bet365, which also owns Stoke City Football Club, increased its profit before tax to £791.2m, driven by a profit of £800.1m in its gambling business.
The company narrowed its loss in its football division from £21.8m last year to £8.7m, on turnover of £82m, according to documents filed with Companies House.
Bet365 also increased its charitable donations to the Denise Coates Foundation from £75m to £85m.
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