The bet365-owning Coates family again topped the fortunes made from gambling in this year’s Sunday Times Rich List, ranking 93rd in the newspaper’s annual rundown of the 1,000 wealthiest people or families in the UK.
According to the newspaper, the estimated collective fortune of Peter Coates, his daughter Denise Coates and son John Coates rose by £125m to £925m during the last 12 months, driven by the continued strong performance of the online business which saw profit increase 21% last year, but also by the inclusion of co-CEO John’s fortune this time around.
The next highest fortunes from gambling in the UK belonged to Betfred’s Fred and Peter Done, with £850m as of April 2013, up from £700m last year.
Third on the gambling list were two of the founders of PartyGaming, Ruth Parasol and her husband Russ DeLeon, whose estimated wealth was £667m, down from £700m the previous year, seeing their position in the main list slip to 135 from 112.
Gambler, businessman and racehorse owner Michael Tabor, who made his first fortune back in 1995 when he sold his bookmaking chain to Coral and now holds a 45% stake in offshore gambling operation BetVictor, ranked next among gambling’s millionaires, with a £550m fortune, ranking 158 out of the UKs richest 1,000 people or families.
Another major beneficiary from PartyGaming’s £5bn float on the London Stock Exchange in 2005, then group marketing chief Vikrant Bhargava, ranked fifth with £228m.
Other gambling millionaires on the Rich List year included offshore betting pioneer Victor Chandler, the eponymous founder of BetVictor, with an estimated £160m, the same as last year.
Betfair co-founders Ed Wray and Andrew Black also ranked again in this year’s Rich List. Wray’s fortune however fell to £101m from £123m and Black’s to £82m from £110m, in part due to the poor performance of Betfair shares over the last year. Wray and Black still own 17% of the company.
Jackpotjoy co-founder Noel Hayden also made it into the top 1,000 of the UK’s richest people or families, with a fortune of £120m.
The top ten gambling millionaires in this year’s RIch List have all amassed individual fortunes of more than £100m.
Article written by Peter Holmes
