Coates and Done families among the top five biggest UK taxpayers
The Sunday Times Tax List reveals bet365 and Betfred founders paid almost £600m between them to Treasury
Denise, John and Peter Coates, the owners of bet365, were the second-highest taxpayers last year in the UK, according to The Sunday Times Tax List published today, Friday 27 January.
The family, who also own Stoke City Football Club, paid a total of £460.2m to the Treasury, which was not far short of the £487m paid by the individual at the top of the pile, Moscow-born billionaire and maths whizz Alex Gerko who recently renounced his Russian citizenship.
The tax collected means bet365’s owners boosted state coffers by £1.26m a day or, to put it another way, £52,534 an hour.
Last year, the Coates family came top of the annual rundown, with £481.7m handed over to the tax man.
Meanwhile, accountant and bookmaker William Roseff, who has a 7% stake in bet365 and whose family owns a chain of betting shops, paid £32.9m in tax in 2022, putting him in 41st position.
Earlier this month, accounts published on the Companies House website showed bet365 racked up £2.85bn in revenue for the 12 months to 27 March 2022, a rise of 2% year on year.
Brothers Fred and Peter Done, the founders of retail and online bookmaking operation BetFred, were the fifth-highest after stumping up £136.8m in tax, down from £169.8m the previous year.
The Done family were behind billionaire British hedge fund manager Sir Chris Hohn (£263m) and sporting goods tycoon Stephen Rubin and family (£392.3m).
The newspaper also revealed that the 100 individuals and families on the list paid a total of £5.2bn in tax.
Fred Done (pictured) and his brother, Peter, were fifth on the Tax List
Robert Watts, compiler of The Sunday Times Tax List, said: “You will find celebrities on the Tax List but many of the entries are people who quietly run largely unheralded businesses that have been creating jobs and paying millions of pounds in tax for decades or even centuries.
“So-called ‘unicorn’ tech firms may dominate the headlines, but they often aren’t cash cows for the Treasury because they don’t employ large numbers of people or show big profits.
“It’s the long-established retailers, pub groups and other bricks-and-mortar businesses that often contribute more.”
He added: “There lies the challenge for the chancellor and his successors. As our economy inevitably shifts further and further online, how do we continue to fund the public services we all want?”
The tax rankings include corporation tax, dividend tax, capital gains tax, income tax, payroll taxes and gambling and alcohol duties.
The 34th edition of The Sunday Times Rich List, published last May, revealed the Coates family ranked 17th on the rundown of the UK’s most wealthy, with an estimated net worth of £8.6bn.
This was an increase of an estimated £189m on the previous year.