Bet365 boss breaks pay records – despite profits slump

Denise Coates CBE, the boss of gambling giant Bet365, has been awarded what is thought to be the largest salary in UK corporate history.

Newly-filed accounts show that Coates was paid of wage of £421m for the year ending March 29. Added to this was a payment of £48m in dividends, taking her salary to £469m.

This is despite revenue falling at Stoke-based Bet365 last year, as turnover dropped by 8% to £2.8bn. Meanwhile, profits slumped by 74% to £194.7m.

Bet365 didn’t make anyone redundant over the last year, nor did it furlough staff. An £85m donation was paid to Coates’s charitable foundation.

Coates’s bumper pay packet means she earned £1.2m for each day of the financial year – more than leaders of every FTSE 100 company combined, says the High Pay Centre.