Denise Coates, the billionaire founder and chief executive of gambling behemoth Bet365, has secured a colossal pay package totalling at least £280 million for the past financial year. This maintains her status as one of the UK's highest-paid executives, even as the Stoke-based company reported a significant drop in profits.
A Breakdown of the Multi-Million Pound Package
Freshly filed accounts at Companies House reveal the details of Coates's remuneration for the year to March 2025. The documents show she received a base salary of £104 million. On top of this, the business paid a substantial dividend of £353.6 million to its shareholders, a sum more than triple the payout from the previous year.
As the majority shareholder of the privately-owned firm, which she runs alongside her brother John Coates, Denise Coates is entitled to at least half of this dividend. This translates to an additional £176.8 million, bringing her minimum total take-home for the year to the headline figure of £280 million. This represents a sharp increase from the approximately £159 million she received the year before.
Strong Revenue Growth Contrasts with Falling Profits
The hefty pay deal comes against a backdrop of mixed financial results for Bet365. The group enjoyed a 9% rise in revenues, which climbed to £4.04 billion. This growth was driven by expansion into new international markets and a successful trading period around the Euro 2024 football tournament.
However, this top-line growth did not translate to the bottom line. The company's pre-tax profits fell sharply to £338.5 million, down from £596.3 million a year earlier. The accounts do not specify the reasons for this profit contraction, which occurred despite the rising revenues.
Eight-Year Total and Potential Sale Speculation
This latest windfall takes Coates's cumulative pay and dividend earnings over the past eight years to a staggering £1.8 billion. Her remuneration consistently ranks among the largest for any business leader in Britain.
The news follows a report by The Guardian in May 2025, which indicated that Ms Coates and her family were assessing a potential sale of the business. Such a deal could reportedly value Bet365 at up to £9 billion, highlighting the immense value of the empire she built from a portable building in a Stoke-on-Trent car park.
