{"id":119383,"date":"2021-04-01T08:49:23","date_gmt":"2021-04-01T08:49:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/?p=119383"},"modified":"2021-04-01T08:49:23","modified_gmt":"2021-04-01T08:49:23","slug":"gambling-boss-takes-home-biggest-ever-uk-pay-packet-earning-469m-in-one-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/world-news\/gambling-boss-takes-home-biggest-ever-uk-pay-packet-earning-469m-in-one-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Gambling boss takes home biggest ever UK pay packet \u2013 earning \u00a3469m in one year"},"content":{"rendered":"
A Brit gambling magnate is believed to have taken home the biggest ever annual pay packet in the UK \u2013 a staggering \u00a3469 million.<\/p>\n
Denise Coates, joint Chief Executive of bet365, received a \u00a3421m salary and a share of \u00a348m of dividends in the 12 months to March 29, 2020.<\/p>\n
The eye-watering sums work out at around \u00a354,000 an hour, and the company defended it as "appropriate and fair".<\/p>\n
However, Luke Hildyard, director of the High Pay Centre, said: \u201cIt's appallingly inefficient for single individuals to hoard wealth in this way.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Coates founded the betting website 20 years ago in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire.<\/p>\n
The 53-year-old risked everything when she took out a \u00a315m loan to launch the firm from a portable cabin in a car park in 2000, Stoke-on-Trent Live reports.<\/p>\n
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The family had run Provincial Racing betting shops but she saw the future online.<\/p>\n
Ms Coates said: "I was convinced early on that gambling would work well on the internet. <\/p>\n
"It is private, accessible and allows you to present a huge range of betting opportunities to customers.<\/p>\n
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Queen's message for Harry and Meghan Markle in first appearance since Oprah interview<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
"For the first few years of the business, we still had betting shops, but, for me, although I had managed to build them into a really strong regional chain, we were always going to be significantly smaller than the national chains.<\/p>\n
"The internet gave us the opportunity to enter a new and international market where we had the possibility of being the best."<\/p>\n
Ms Coates learned her trade in Provincial Racing, first working as a cashier and then studying econometrics at the University of Sheffield.<\/p>\n
She took out a \u00a315m loan from RBS, secured against her chain of betting shops, and the bet365.com website was launched in 2001.<\/p>\n
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Four years later, the new venture was so successful that she sold that chain of high street shops to Coral for \u00a340m.<\/p>\n
They remain a family business \u2013 brother John is joint-chief executive \u2013 and are proud of their local roots.<\/p>\n
"I am a local person and it is important to me that the area is as successful as it can be," she said.<\/p>\n
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"It\u2019s great to show that what is essentially a technology firm can be successful in this area. The area has its fair share of bad press, but it is home to a lot of talented, hard-working people."<\/p>\n
Ms Coates' fortune has allowed her to donate millions to charity through the Denise Coates Foundation, including \u00a310 million to the Royal Stoke University Hospital at the start of the pandemic.<\/p>\n
Bet365 has also paid \u00a385 million to the charity during the pandemic.<\/p>\n
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