Bet365 Pre-Tax Profit Up 10% to £514m in FY2016/17

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Monday, April 9th, 2018 | Written by Shane Larson

Bet365 has released its latest financial results, with the UK online gambling operator having generated gross revenues of £2.15 billion ($2.83bn) in the fiscal year ending March 26th, higher by 39% compared to the £1.65 billion collected during the previous 12-month period. Furthermore, pre-tax profit also rose by 10% to £514 million from £465 million in FY 2015/16, and commenting upon Bet365’s solid results, CEO Denise Coates said that its sports and gaming activities accounted for a significant amount of the company’s overall growth. Elaborating further, she stated:

“Financial performance in the year was augmented by what was, for the Group, a good 2016 Football European Championships. In addition, the fall in the value of sterling during the period also impacted favorably.”

Sports Betting

Bet365 currently operates in a number of important markets across the world, including the UK, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Denmark, Gibraltar, Malta, Bulgaria, Cyprus, and Australia. In FY 2016/17, the firm’s sports betting handle subsequently increased by 27%, mostly due to UEFA Euro 2016 which took place in France from June 10th to July 10th, and was eventually won by Portugal for the first time.

In-play betting also accounted for a massive 72% of all sports related revenues during the period, with its mobile sports betting product continuing to be its most popular sector, with revenue soaring by 61%. This may well indicate that the company’s customers are trending younger, which would be a welcome development if true.

Horse Racing

While Bet365 has benefited hugely from its real-time betting products, and offering in-play odds during sports events, the horse racing industry has been slower to adapt to changing tastes for live wagering. Nevertheless, Bet365 has begun pioneering the way in terms of in-play betting for equestrian sports, and now offers a range of options including winning distances, and finishing positions.

Commenting upon the importance that the horse racing industry moves with the times, Peter Woodfine, commercial director of Total Performance Data, stated:

“Given the global betting landscape and shift towards in-running across all sports, the development of a comparable racing product is absolutely vital for racing’s future.”

Customer Protection

Over the pasy year or so, numerous gambling firms have been hit with heavy penalties by the UK’s Gambling Commission (UKGC), including the likes of William Hill, Camelot, Ladbrokes Coral, and Sky Bet, Betfred, and Paddy Power.

While Bet365 has so far escaped any bad publicity, in June 2016 it was fined $2.75 million by an Australian Federal Court over misleading ‘free’ offers. The firm is also currently contending with a £1,009,960 lawsuit brought against it by Megan McCann after her winnings were withheld, with Bet365 asserting that her £25,000 stake was originally supplied by a third party, in breach of the operator’s official terms and conditions.

Meanwhile, Bet365 has said that it is committed to protecting its customers, fulfilling its responsibility for minimizing any gambling-related harm that they may experience, and ensuring crime is kept out of the gambling industry. As Coates explains:

“The group is committed to developing an evidence-based approach to responsible gambling; to this end, the group continues to work with research partners on a number of projects to improve its methods of identifying harmful play and deliver more effective harm-minimisation interventions. The group has also invested in the development of its own predictive algorithms in order to improve the accuracy and reach of existing measures.”

UK’s Highest Paid Boss

Bet365 was founded by Denise Coates in the year 2000, with the Stoke-on-Trent based entrepreneur buying the Bet365.com domain name for $25,000 before launching its online business in March 2001. The company now boasts more than 23 million customers, and employs 3,835 staff, up from 3,404 in 2016, with employee costs increasing from £315.8m in FY 2016 to £585.1m in FY 2017.

Last year, Denise Coates paid herself a massive £217 million, making her the highest paid boss in the UK, of which £18m was accounted for by dividend payments. Her company also owns Stoke City FC, which currently sits second from bottom in the English Premier League, with her team having posted a £10.2m loss in 2017, compared to an £8.5m profit they made during the previous year. Finally, Bet365 donated £50.7 million to charitable causes over the past 12 months, or more than double the £20.6 million contributed the previous year, with £50 million of that amount given to The Denise Coates Foundation.