24/12/2025
A Tale of Two Christmases: What a £280m Payday Tells Us About Addiction in Britain
As the year draws to a close, Britain is living through two very different versions of Christmas.
For most people, this is a season of tightened belts. The cost-of-living crisis continues to bite, debt hangs heavy, and the so-called “festive period” brings with it a familiar set of emotional and financial triggers. For many people in recovery—or struggling quietly with addiction—Christmas can be one of the most difficult times of the year.
But for those at the very top of the gambling industry, Christmas looks rather different.
Recently, it was reported that Denise Coates, CEO of Bet365, received a pay and dividends package worth at least £280 million. That equates to more than £760,000 every single day. Even as the company reported a slump in profits, this extraordinary payday was delivered without hesitation.
Addiction does not exist in a vacuum. To understand it properly, we must understand the social and economic conditions that allow it to flourish. When a single individual can extract a quarter of a billion pounds from a gambling company, it forces us to ask an uncomfortable but necessary question: where is this money coming from, and at what human cost?
The Extraction of Wealth
Gambling is routinely marketed as harmless fun—a bit of excitement to brighten up a dull evening or add sparkle to Christmas. But for countless families, the reality is far darker. Decades of research show that the industry’s profits are not evenly spread across casual users. Instead, they are disproportionately generated by so-called “high-value” customers, many of whom are experiencing gambling harm or addiction.
This is not accidental. It is structural.
If we are serious about living in a fair society, we must recognise this as an issue of economic justice. That £280 million represents millions of individual losses: rent money gambled away, food budgets drained, relationships strained or broken under the weight of secrecy, shame, and debt. It is wealth systematically extracted from communities already under pressure, funnelled upward to a tiny elite, while the consequences are left to be dealt with by overstretched charities and an underfunded NHS.
The gambling industry profits; the public pays.
Christmas Under the Shadow of the Bet
For someone in recovery, or someone currently caught in the cycle of addiction, Christmas is an onslaught. Television screens are saturated with slick betting adverts dressed up as festive cheer. Phones buzz with “free bet” offers precisely when financial anxiety is at its peak. The pressure to provide the “perfect” Christmas—to make magic happen despite dwindling resources—can push people toward the false hope of a life-changing win.
The contrast is stark. On one side, we have an executive pay package large enough to fund thousands of addiction counsellors, housing projects, and community mental health hubs. On the other, we have families relying on food banks because a “harmless flutter” spiralled into a financial catastrophe.
This is not a coincidence. It is the predictable outcome of a system that treats human vulnerability as a revenue stream.
A Different Vision for the New Year
We reject the idea that addiction is a personal moral failing. It is not a lack of willpower or character. It is the foreseeable result of policies and industries that prioritise profit over public health.
As we move toward the New Year, our charity remains committed to a different set of values.
We choose solidarity over profit. We believe people should be supported, not exploited.
We push for systemic change, including tighter regulation of an industry that currently operates with far too much impunity.
And we invest in community care. Real recovery is built on connection, dignity, stable housing, fair wages, and hope—not on the empty promises at the bottom of a betting app.
This Christmas, while headlines focus on the eye-watering wealth of the few, our attention remains firmly on the many. We are here for the parents trying to rebuild their lives, the young people relentlessly targeted by advertising, and anyone living under the long shadow cast by the gambling industry.
If you are struggling this festive season, please remember this: you are more than a customer, more than a data point. You are a person—and you deserve a life free from extraction.
Everyone is welcome to join us for our celebrations on 16th December 2025, where they can collect their individual stars to place on the Living Room Tree of Hope. Visitors are also free to tour the centre, speak to people who work here and enjoy warming meal and sing Christmas carols. Where: 77 Rich...
