Bet365's billionaire chief, Denise Coates, has experienced a significant salary cut of nearly £130m as the betting behemoth bounced back into profitability with a near £600m profit.
Coates, whose father established the Stoke-on-Trent firm, received £94.6m in the year to 31 March 2024, as per the latest accounts filed with Companies House, as reported by .
This figure is a substantial decrease from the £220.6m she pocketed in the previous 12 months. The CEO would also have partaken in the £110m dividend issued by the group for the year, an increase from the £100m distributed in the year to March 2023.
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Her annual salary reached its zenith at £421m in 2020 and has now comfortably exceeded the £1bn mark over the past five years. Bet365's most recent accounts also indicate that it returned to pre-tax profitability this year after recording a pre-tax loss of £72.5m in the preceding 12 months.
The results reveal a pre-tax profit of £596.3m for the company, while its turnover rose from £3.41bn to £3.71bn. A statement approved by the board read: "The group has continued to invest in its trading platform capability and markets, increasing our global in-play and pre-match market offerings still further."
"The visual sports product has been improved, with enhancements to soccer and the addition of more sports, including American football and baseball."
"Our match live offering also continued to expand with the addition of basketball, further enhancing customers’ real time sports information and in-play options and experience."
During the year, the staff complement at Bet365 grew significantly from 7,567 to 9,145. The company attributes its swing back to profitability largely to the increased fair value gains on its current asset investments.
Bet365 added: "The changing worldwide gambling and leisure industries are likely to present opportunities for enhancing the group’s presence worldwide."