Britain's best-paid boss Denise Coates, who runs Bet365, took home £320m last year
The boss of online betting firm Bet365 raises her annual donation to charity as her own earnings surge 26% on the previous year.
Wednesday 18 December 2019 12:45, UK
The top-paid boss in Britain has landed a further inflation-busting increase in her earnings, taking home £320m last year.
Accounts filed at Companies House showed Denise Coates, the billionaire chief executive and co-founder of online gambling firm Bet365, netted a £277m salary in the year to March 2019.
That was 26% up on the previous year when she received £220m.
The £320m sum was achieved through dividends.
The filing showed the family-owned firm, which is also a majority owner of Stoke City Football Club, raked in £65bn through punters' stakes over the 12-month period.
Profit before tax was 20% up at £791m despite the Championship side recording a loss of almost £9m.
The online gambling sector, which has faced criticism over its marketing practices, especially concerning children, has so far largely escaped the crackdown experienced on the operators of betting shops.
A £2 stake limit imposed on so-called fixed-odds betting terminals has prompted many high street operators to close stores and seek online growth alongside a greater share of the burgeoning market in the United States.
Ahead of the general election, MPs expressed concern that online firms, often with offshore bases including Gibraltar, had become the greatest risk to efforts on curbing problem gambling.
However, Bet365 was part of the group of gambling firms which agreed the so-called whistle-to-whistle ban on advertising during sporting events. Its campaigns are fronted by the actor Ray Winstone.
Ms Coates, who has received criticism over her awards in the past from pay campaigners, will also be among the top providers of income tax to the Treasury.
It is estimated she would have paid around £125m.
To put that in context: Google, Facebook and Amazon paid a combined £108m in corporation tax in 2018.
Ms Coates, who is estimated by Forbes to be the 244th-richest person in the world with a net worth of £9.3bn, also donates vast sums to her charitable foundation.
It has has been credited in the past with providing funds for Alzheimer's research.
She said of the sum: "The size of the donation, and therefore the difference the foundation will be able to make to people's lives over the coming years, are of great importance to the group."