How Bet365's Denise Coates Hit her Own Jackpot

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ByRebecca Marston
Business press reporter, BBC News

Denise Coates, the billionaire boss of Bet365, added another ₤ 323m to her wealth today after the business her household founded acquired another year of huge profits.

She's been called the UK's most effective lady, with a fortune that Forbes magazine puts in the region of ₤ 9.3 bn.

Most strikingly, she has actually made that largely herself.

Bet365 is Stoke-on-Trent's largest personal sector employer, with more than 4,600 personnel. It offers its countless worldwide consumers sports wagering, poker, gambling establishment, video games and bingo. The company had a ₤ 3bn turnover in the year to the end of March and an earnings before tax of ₤ 791m.

Ms Coates' bro John is joint chief executive and her dad Peter is the company's chairman, but Denise Coates owns half the business and there's no doubt the success is mainly hers.

LISTEN: Profile: Denise Coates

Bet365 boss sees pay increase to ₤ 265m

Serious bettors tend to have a "system", an apparently sure-fire method that will keep bringing rewards. So what's her "system"?

Go back to the 1990s and there aren't numerous who would have bet on the small family-run chain of local betting stores growing to such a size.

A lot is down to her mathematical talent, which was remarkable from an early age. David Owen taught her at secondary school in the 1980s.

"She got everything right, just asked essential questions and was angelically acted. She was plainly off the scale. If we were talking Mensa, she 'd remain in the leading 1%," he informed the BBC.

'More women'

She accomplished a top-notch degree in econometrics and trained as an accountant within the yohaig code household firm, developing even more on the understanding of the small chain that she chose up while working part-time during high school.

In addition to a really eager eye for figures - the heart of any successful bookie - she is likewise a moderniser.

Among her colleagues, Debbie Tatton, informed the BBC: "When Denise came, she wanted a better relationship in between the staff and the consumers. We became a lot more professional, a lot more customer-focused. A great deal of younger individuals began coming in, as well as a lot more ladies."

In 2000, Ms Coates upped the stakes and persuaded the household to mortgage business to enable them to develop new software.

Her sibling says she became focused on the potential for online gaming and ended up being a leader in that organization.

Setting up headquarters in a short-term building in a car park, Ms Coates called it the supreme gamble, purchasing the domain name Bet365.com so that she might drive business because instructions.

'Innate knowledge'

"She's extremely smart and extremely identified," states Warwick Bartlett, from worldwide wagering and video gaming experts GBGC.

"She is likewise capable of taking a look at the huge image. Betfair was the innovator in in-play wagering, but she was generally the first to harness mobile technology, acknowledging that gamblers anywhere would have the ability to bank on sporting events."

A huge 70% of earnings now comes through banking on tablets and phones.

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She is assisted, Mr Bartlett says, by the fact that she, uniquely, truly knows the industry. "The Coates household are third-generation bookmakers. They have discovered business from moms and dads and grandparents.

"She has an innate understanding of what the gambler is trying to find. A lot of the business these days have managers that might have originated from [other sectors] They are expert managers who attempt to use their understanding acquired from offering beans or margarines."

Ad controversy

Mr Bartlett states close knowledge of another organization has helped with the in-play football earnings: Bet365 owns local club Stoke City.

"Owning a football club provided them an insight into the method the Premier League worked. Stoke City, not so successful itself, has actually played teams that actually are," he says.

"On top of the contact with the specialists they take advantage of protection through the sponsorship of the group. Bet365 has great exposure every time Stoke are featured."

Ms Coates' father is chairman of Stoke and has a greater public profile than she does.

But the name best associated with Bet365 is, of course, Ray Winstone, whose gravelly tones utilized to prompt punters to "wager in play - NOW!" before the ads were pulled.

Again, Warwick Bartlett states, Ms Coates got it right. "Using Ray validates my point about 365, they know their consumers. He's a middle-aged guy and a little a geezer.

"Cleverly, Bet365 use similar types to attract their clients in other markets. In Australia, it's Samuel L Jackson - he stumbles upon in the yohaig code advert as a really cool guy."