Bet365 pocketed more than £270m last year in another huge payday for the founder of the Stoke-on-Trent-based gambling company.

Denise Coates, who set up Bet365 in a portable building in the Staffordshire city in 2000, received the bumper payout despite the firm making a £60m loss in the year to March 2023.

She was paid a salary of £220.6m in the year to 26 March 2023, a £7m increase on her pay the year before, according to the company’s latest accounts.

As the company’s controlling shareholder she is also entitled to at least 50% of the £100m dividend that was also paid for the year.

The £270.6m combined annual salary and dividend payout is significantly more than the total £260m she collected in 2022 and is one of the world’s biggest ever pay awards.

However, it remains less than the record-breaking £471m she collected in 2020. In 2021, she collected £300m.