Figures released this week have shown that over £1 billion of bets was placed with Bet365 every week during the last financial year.
The astonishing figures cover the year ending on March 25, 2018, and show that the company took a total of £52,559,570,000 in bets during the 52-week period.
The Coates family, which runs Bet365, also owns Stoke City football club, which was relegated from the Premier League last season. But the family have profited significantly from the high betting take, with co-founder Denise Coates picking up £220m in earnings and £45m in share dividends.
Increasingly successful
The figures reveal a picture of an increasingly successful betting operation. The company made a profit of £2.85 billion during the financial year, and employee numbers rose by 400, leading to an increase in the Bet365 wager bill of 27 percent and an average pay figure of £175,000 although that was significantly affected by the total of £333 million paid out to board members.
While the latest figures are good news for Bet365, they are likely to attract criticism from gambling charities and politicians, not least because they come at a time when the betting industry in the UK is under heavy scrutiny over social responsibility and marketing practices.
A recent study from the Gambling Commission found that the number of children considered to have a gambling problem increased fourfold to over 50,000 in two years, and that 450,000 children aged between 11 and 16 gamble regularly. In addition, one in seven boys were said to follow betting brands on social media. The issue of betting adverts during televised football matches has been raised by a number of critics, and Bet365’s adverts, starring Ray Winstone, are among the highest profile.
Falling golden pound sterling signs image from shutterstock.com
