Bet365 boss Denise Coates and her family paid a staggering £573 million in tax last year, it has been revealed.
The Coates family – who run the Etruria-based gambling business – handed over more than half-a-billion in tax in 2020, according to The Sunday Times Tax List, and more than anyone else in the UK.
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.
It makes joint chief executive Denise – who founded bet365 in 2000 – the country’s largest taxpayer for the second year in a row.
Last year, Ms Coates was named among the wealthiest women in the UK with an annual pay packet of more than £330 million.
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.
She was ranked at number 16 in the overall list, up £310m and three places from 2019.
Together Denise, her father Peter and brother John, who also own Stoke City and employ more than 5,000 people, are estimated to be worth £7.166 billion.
John Coates, Denise Coates and Peter Coates outside the bet365 Headquarters in Etruria John Coates, Denise Coates and Peter Coates
The family are joined in the Top 50 list by vacuum cleaner mogul Sir James Dyson and Sports Direct owner Mike Ashley who were ranked in sixth place and 12th place respectively.
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.
Sir James – who topped the rich list in 2020 with his £16.2 billion fortune – handed over £191.3 million in tax last year, while Mr Ashley’s tax liabilities dropped by £8.8 million to £46 million.
Elsewhere, Glenn Gordon and family – who are behind the William Grant spirits firm – are second in this year’s list with a £436.4 million tax liability, and Fred and Peter Done – the brothers behind Betfred – took third place with a tax bill of £191.3 million.
But Sir Philip Green dropped out of the list this year as his Arcadia retail empire fell into administration.
