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Denise Coates - founder and majority shareholder of Bet365 - paid herself £217m last year (40% of the company profits from £47bn of bets and countless ruined lives). That was £199m in salary and £18m in dividends. The previous record for a business boss's pay was £48m.
She is the daughter of the Stoke City chairman Peter Coates - so there is a football connection and name recognition.
This is painted as a rags-to-riches story; one of taking a massive gamble (really!) and winning; of breaking through a gender glass ceiling; of supporting her local community in The Potteries with jobs; and giving 'generously' to charities.
Some of that may be true, but to me this looks like a case of raking in obscene wealth from the debt, addiction and misery of hundreds of thousands of people. No amount of spin or charity donations will change that. Nor will Ray Winstone!
https://www.theguardian.com/business...217m-last-year
And she still lives in a modest semi.
It always makes me wonder how much tax the country has lost since the Government of the time caved into the gambling lobby and shelved the old 10% betting tax.
Older posters will remember there was a seperate gamble with this - you either paid it upfront on the stake, or risk it coming off the potential winnings.
This is a tricky one, isn't it? On the one hand, she earned the dough legally. But does it pass the morality test? Gambling is ubiquitous; it encompasses everything from the granny trundling to Castle Bingo once a week right through to the bloke who's betting on every race inside a High Street bookies' shop day in, day out.
Would we see such comments found in this thread if she had stuffed one million quid into her purse last year? In other words, is it a question of scale? I suspect it is and sheer envy is at play. Having a punt, whether large or small, via endless mediums, is essentially about the something for nothing culture. Those who lose too much have character flaws.
Envy? That much money off the back of betting (and all of its connotations) is simply a bit vulgar. Or.. a lot. IMO.
Personally, I don't get envious, never have, but I would look at someone who has achieved well in honest toil, retired early with a relatively modest mil or two and think, good on ya - nice one.
The percentage of problem gamblers is no greater than drinkers who are alcoholic. Do we ban alcohol as well?
I say this as a former problem gambler who had a problem with gambling, and got much worse when the machines come in, but you can’t ban gambling for the millions who gamble responsibly.
I’ve probably given 50k to the bookies when I went a decade with a serious gambling problem. 2Same amount I’ve got left on my mortgage so I could be mortgage free at 41 but there’s no point looking back and thinking what if, what’s done is done.
All sense is out of window when chasing, I know that to my own cost, but the brakes are running out of money. You then talk some sense into yourself when you’re out of the bubble, until the next time of course.
Maybe they should ban the machines but the industry would never allow that, and the government is making too much tax off the industry which is booming.
An alcoholic might flake out but as soon as he wakes up he’s back on it.