Bet365 boss takes £126m pay cut despite profit

Denise Coates CBE, chief executive of gambling firm Bet365 and one of Britain’s richest women, took a 45% pay cut last year and still received a package worth more than £150m in 2024.

Ms Coates, believed to be Bet356 Group’s highest-paid director, was paid £94.7m for the year ending March 2024, compared with £221m the previous year.

More than half of the dividends paid by the UK-based group were also owed to it – about £63m of the £110m dividend in the year, which was more than £100m.

The Stoke-on-Trent business has seen rapid growth, much of which has been attributed to Ms Coates.

Bet365 is the largest employer in the Stoke area. The group recorded a pre-tax profit of £596.3 million for the year, compared with a loss of £72.6 million a year earlier as it expanded into regions such as North America.

The expansion appears to be paying off, with group revenues rising 9% to £3.7bn. Lower executive pay also helped profits.

Bet365.com is one of the largest online gambling websites in the world.

Ms Coates set up the Bet365 website in a portable building in a Stoke-on-Trent car park more than 20 years ago.

She has previously been described as Britain’s “most successful women” and one of the highest paid executives in the world.

Ms Coates gained a first-class degree in econometrics and later trained as an accountant in the family firm.

He helped build the group from his father’s betting business into one of the largest online gambling companies.

His brother John Coates, 55, is co-chief executive of Bet365 and joint chairman of Stoke City Football Club.

She is often credited as the driving force behind the business and became managing director of her family’s chain of betting shops at the age of 22.

The Coates family have a net worth of around £7.5 billion, which placed them 20th on last year’s Sunday Times Rich List.