Updated posts 2026
Unveiling a remarkable tale from the industrial heartland of Stoke-on-Trent, we witness the extraordinary rise of Denise Coates. As the CEO and pioneering founder of Bet365, she stands as Britain’s reigning business tycoon, a true trailblazer in her own right.
Establishing her domain in a former mining hub, Coates introduced Bet365 on the cusp of the new millennium. Since then, this betting giant has garnered an impressive base of over 90 million customers worldwide, solidifying its presence in Stoke-on-Trent. Notably, in 2023, the company achieved a remarkable revenue of £3.39 billion ($4.3 billion).
According to recent financial disclosures, as reviewed by Fortune, Coates’s earnings for her work in 2023 are astonishing. Based on documents filed with Companies House, the highest-paid director of the company received an incredible £220.6 million ($280 million).
Even though Bet365’s sports and gaming division suffered a £60 million ($76 million) loss for the year, Coates’s earnings in 2023 have skyrocketed compared to the previous year’s impressive nine-figure sum of $271.7 million.
However, this windfall is not the only achievement credited to Coates. In the fiscal year ending March 2023, Bet365 distributed £100 million ($127.4 million) in dividends. With her majority stake of 58.3%, Coates is estimated to have acquired an additional windfall of about £50 million ($63.7 million), elevating her total compensation to approximately £270 million ($344 million).
The Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index reveals that Coates has earned approximately £1.5 billion in salary and dividends over the past decade.
The pay structure here is unusual in a way that partly explains the headline figures. Bet365 is privately held and family controlled, so the salary is set without the shareholder votes and remuneration committees that constrain listed companies, and it is paid as salary rather than the stock awards that make up most of the compensation for the executives compared below. Paying through salary rather than shares carries a substantially higher UK tax charge, which is a detail often lost when the numbers are set side by side.
Coates emerges as a shining star, surpassing not only the Prime Minister of her country but also several prominent CEOs in the tech industry. The revelations speak volumes about her exceptional achievements and place her in a league of her own.
UK’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak earns an annual salary of up to £198,661 ($252,700), while Google’s Sundar Pichai recently received a compensation package worth $226 million. Interesting to note, Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg famously earns a nominal $1 salary and does not participate in the bonus scheme. However, his total compensation for 2022 exceeded $27 million due to security expenses.
In the proxy statement, Amazon’s CEO Andy Jassy’s 2022 compensation was disclosed as $1,298,723, a significant decrease from the previous year’s $212 million primarily due to reduced stock awards. Conversely, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella saw an increase in his 2022 compensation, receiving $54,946,310 compared to $49,858,280, thanks to augmented stock awards.
Bloomberg’s projections suggest that Coates’s fortune may face a significant decline of around 40%, amounting to approximately $4 billion, due to Bet365’s financial downturn. This hints at a potential shift in her position of dominance compared to her peers in Silicon Valley.
