Bet365 Co-Founder Earned $421 Million in 2020

Bet365 co-founder Denise Coates earned nearly half a billion pounds in salary and dividends in 2020, the biggest paycheck in British corporate history.

According to Bet365’s delayed filing with the Companies House, its highest-paid director earned $421M. With the 53-year old Coates at the helm of the corporation she founded, it is believed that she is the highest-paid director.

Highest paid director @bet365 , believed to be CEO Denise Coates, was paid £421m in the year to Mar 2020. That doesn’t include share of £95m in divis. I think (think) that is more than was paid out to all FTSE 100 bosses last year. More to follow on @telebusiness pic.twitter.com/7YHeSzEuLs

— Oliver Gill (@ojngill) March 31, 2021

With the 53-year old Denise Coates at the helm of the corporation which she owns 50% of, it is believed that she is the highest-paid director. Add that to the £48m in dividends she got for owning half of Bet365, her total earnings for the year ending March 29, 2020, would total £469m.

That would mean that Coates earned £1.3m per day last year or 2,360 times more than what British Prime Minister Boris Johnson makes. It’s also more than what the bosses of every FTSE 100 company made, combined.

Coates’ earnings also shatter the recent record of £343m which Hedge Fund manager Sir Chris John declared a month ago to the Companies House.

Last year, Coates paid herself £323m (£276M in salaries and £47M in dividends), setting a new record for the highest salary paid to a British executive in a single year. That amount broke the former mark of £265m which well, Coates herself set in 2018.

Bet365 Profits Down to £224.m

Coates’ latest windfall, which brings her record-breaking personal earning to £1.3bn since 2016, comes at a time when the world economy and sports were badly affected by the pandemic. Bet365 was not exempted.

Here’s the source from the accounts (thank you to @bet365 for sharing); pic.twitter.com/uENtyR2N10

— Tom Witherow (@TomWitherow) March 31, 2021

For the 52-week period ending March 29, Bet365 reported an 8% decrease in revenue to £2.81bn partly due to the cancellation of sporting events last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the lack of major football tournaments during that period.

The company’s operating profit dropped by 71.9% to £224.m, down from £800.1.m in 2019. But the reason behind this wasn’t just the drop in revenues due to the pandemic but also because of the salary bump it gave its four directors, three of whom are surnamed, Coates. Denise’s 2020 salary, for instance, was 45% higher than what she paid herself last year.

Richest Self-Made Woman in Britain

Considered the richest self-made woman in Britain, Denise Coates founded Bet365 in a portable building in Stoke-on-Trent. She launched its online platform in 2001 with the help of a £15 million loan from RBS against the family betting shop her father established in 1974.

Spotlight is on Denise Coates, Britain’s richest self-made woman, her betting shop is now the largest online gambling company #QorePlayers pic.twitter.com/NtIAfu0la9

— Qore Markets (@QoreMarkets) August 24, 2017

She would later sell the family business to Coral for £40 million which enabled her to pay off her debt and move forward. Bet365 has since not looked back.

The Coates Family has an estimated net worth of £6.8B, making Ms. Coates the 5th richest woman in England behind Marit and Kirsten Rausing, Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken, and Kirsty Bertarelli. As of March 31, 2021, Forbes says that Denise is worth $6.4B.

She is also a major philanthropist, donating millions through her own foundation. Last year alone, Bet365 said that it donated £85m to the Denise Coates Foundation which supports causes such as the Douglas McMillan Hospice and Alzheimer’s Research in the U.K.