Bet365 founder Coates named Britain's top taxpayer with £573 million paid

The scale of the gambling sector's contribution to the public purse has been highlighted again after bet365 founder and joint-chief executive Denise Coates was declared Britain's top taxpayer with more than half a billion pounds paid to the Treasury.

Figures produced by The Sunday Times showed Coates and her family handed over £573 million in the 2019-20 tax year, placing them at the head of a list in which Betfred's chairman and joint-founder Fred Done occupies third position.

Coates, who has an estimated wealth of £7.166 billion and runs a business that employs over 5,000 people, was also Britain's biggest taxpayer across the 12 months of the 2018-19 tax year, when the bill stood at £276m.

Betfred chairman Fred Done paid £191m in taxCredit: Edward Whitaker

Done did not figure in the leading positions last year, but alongside his brother Peter this time contributed £191m, putting him one spot behind distillery magnate Glenn Gordon.

Betting and Gaming Council chief executive Michael Dugher said: "The betting and gaming industry makes a huge contribution to the economy, supporting jobs and the tax base. I’m sure none of this is lost on the Treasury as the country emerges from Covid, with all the pressures that this has inevitably placed on the public finances."

Coates and Done were far from the only figures connected to racing whose names appeared in the standings. Owner-breeder Baroness Howard de Walden paid £96m to HM Revenue and Customs, while Lord Bamford, whose wife Lady Bamford is a prominent owner with John Gosden, was responsible for £43m in tax.

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