Britain’s highest-paid woman, Denise Coates, has taken a 45 per cent pay cut — but still received more than £150m in salary and dividends last year despite soaring profits at the online gambling company.
Her fortune for the year to March 2024 was boosted by the £94.6m salary she received from Bet365 – the Stoke-based gambling group she and her family own, and a dividend of around £63.8m.
This marked a near halving of her reward package the previous financial year when she received a salary of £220.7m and a dividend of £58m. Total executive pay for Bet365 – which also includes her brother and father, was down from £304m to £124m.
This was despite the gaming firm reporting an increase in turnover from £3.4bn to £3.7bn last year, while also cutting costs and being boosted by its other investments. This led to a £110m dividend, according to newly filed accounts at Companies House.
Last year’s losses are believed to be linked to the companies expansion plans in north and south America.
Bet365.com is one of the world’s biggest online gambling websites and Coates, who founded it in a portable cabin, has a controlling majority shareholding.
She has previously been described as one of the UK’s most successful women and among the best-paid executives in the world.
The median pay for a chief executive at the UK’s top listed companies in the FTSE 100 Index is £4.2m a year, according to the latest research from the High Pay Centre think tank.
The figure, which excludes pension, amounts to 113 times the median full-time worker’s pay of £37,430.
Unlike many of its rivals who switched operations offshore, the Coates family have kept their operations in the UK making it one of the biggest contributors to UK corporation tax revenues. It is a major employer in Stoke.
The accounts show the company made a £120m donation to the Denise Coates Foundation, up from £100m last year. Last year, the Foundation made donations to the Douglas Macmillan Hospice and the New Vic Theatre.
The company also owned a majority in local Championship football club Stoke City – but the accounts showed the club demerged from the group last year even though Denise Coates brother John, remains the majority owner of the club.
Stoke City, which recently appointed their fourth manager in the last two years, made a loss of £30.3m last year, the accounts show.
