Bet365: UK's best-paid employer strikes ₤ 323m prize

Bet365 employer Denise Coates has actually received a ₤ 323m payday, confirming her position as the UK's best paid executive.

The co-founder of the online gaming company was paid a ₤ 277m salary plus dividends as the popularity of online betting continues to grow.

The company's accounts, external program that in the year to end-March her salary rose from ₤ 220m on the previous period.

But the increase comes as the industry faced mounting criticism, consisting of over kids betting.

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The privately held business is owned collectively by Ms Coates and members of her direct family, including her sibling John, who is joint president, and her father Peter, the firm's chairman.

Ms Coates made a first-rate degree in econometrics - the yohaig code application of statistical approaches to financial data - from Sheffield University before signing up with the High Street betting firm, run by her daddy.

She identified the capacity of online gaming in 2000 and bought the domain Bet365.com so that she could drive the household service in that direction.

Bet365 made a revenue before tax of ₤ 791m in the year, compared with ₤ 661m the year before.

The company paid dividends of ₤ 92.5 m, half of which are believed to have gone to Ms Coates, as the owner of about half of Bet365's shares.

The group of companies owns Stoke City Football Club, which made a loss of ₤ 8.7 m in the year.

The High Pay Centre, a think tank which monitors earnings, said the timing of the release of the Bet365 results looked "cynical", provided it was just after a basic election.

High Pay Centre executive director Luke Hildyard said: "This looks like cynical timing, slipped out straight after a basic election project where excess wealth, taxes on the abundant and the huge space in between those on top and everyone else have been crucial concerns."

He included: "Business success need to be incentivised and rewarded, but a payment a portion of this size would still afford a way of life beyond the wildest dreams of many people."

Mr Hildyard said there was "clearly scope" for those collecting such sums to pay their workers more or contribute more in taxes.

Child betting

In October, Cardiff University research study suggested that two-fifths of 11 to 16-year-olds had actually bet in the previous year.

The study said this was "particularly worrying, considered that throughout the UK, many forms of business gaming are only legal for those aged 18 and over".

Slot machine were the most popular form of gaming, followed by playing cards for money with friends and scratchcards.

Dr Graham Moore of the Centre for the Development and Evaluation of Complex Interventions for Public Health Improvement stated at the time: "The evidence reveals that people who bet earlier in life are most likely to become problem gamblers in the adult years."

However, a Gambling Commission study in October, external suggested that 11% of kids had bet within a week of the study being conducted.

But in addition, the regulator warned in July, external of research that suggested links in between "problem gambling and suicidal thoughts or attempts".

Bet365 says it has "a steady dedication to provide industry-leading techniques to player security", including monitoring client gaming, and says it will "terminate the [client] relationship if it feels the risk of damage is too high".

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15 October 2019