UK's biggest taxpayer Denise Coates earned £470 million from bet365 in 2019-20

Denise Coates, the founder and joint chief executive of bet365, earned approaching £470 million in the year to March 29, 2020, according to the gambling giant's latest set of accounts.

The financial statements said the highest-paid director at bet365, believed to be Coates, received £421m during the period.

Dividends totalling £95m were also paid to directors which, assuming Coates receives 50 per cent as she owns half of the company, would bring her overall package to nearly £470m, compared to the £323m she received the previous year.

Bet365, which launched in March 2001, is privately owned by Coates, her brother and fellow joint chief executive John, and father Peter, but news of her pay is an annual cause of controversy.

In January the family were named as Britain's biggest taxpayers for the second year running by the Sunday Times, which calculated their contribution to the exchequer had risen to £573m.

The impact of the start of the Covid-19 pandemic at the end of the financial year meant that revenue for the sports and gaming segment of the group (Stoke City football club is a separate part of the group) fell year-on-year by eight per cent to £2.76 billion.

The Bet365 group also owns Stoke CityCredit: Lewis Storey

However, excluding the impact of Covid-19 and other factors such as the lack of a major football tournament during the period, bet365 reported an underlying increase in revenue of two per cent.

The UK is the company's largest single market and accounts for around 25 per cent of the sports and gaming revenues.

The reduction in revenue, alongside an increase in remuneration and other costs, led to a reduction in operating profit of 74 per cent to £194.7m.

Amounts wagered on sports decreased by eight per cent, while the number of active customers rose by four per cent. In-play represented 75 per cent of sports revenue in the period.

At the start of the pandemic, bet365 set a policy that there would be no staff pay reductions and no redundancies. It did not take up government support or make use of the furlough scheme.

At the end of the period, 5,014 staff were employed within the group's sports, gaming and support operations, compared to 4,646 the previous year.

'I am delighted with how the group responded'

In her review of the business, Coates said: "On behalf of the board I am pleased to report that the group continued to make considerable progress during the period, particularly in the priority area of safer gambling, where significant investment and developments have been made.

"The period also saw the initial impact of Covid-19, with sport at all levels halted across the world. I am delighted with how the group responded and adapted to these challenging circumstances.

"We continued to operate the business successfully throughout the lockdowns with business continuity plans enacted resulting in staff being able to work from home while significant investment was also made to ensure the office environments were Covid-secure."

The group's total tax contribution to the UK exchequer was £614.6m. The company also made a charitable donation of £85m to the Denise Coates Foundation.

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