How Bet365's Denise Coates Hit her Own Jackpot

ByRebecca Marston
Business reporter, BBC News

Denise Coates, the billionaire manager of Bet365, included another ₤ 323m to her wealth today after the business her household founded racked up another year of big revenues.

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

Most strikingly, she has made that mostly herself.

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

Ms Coates' bro John is joint president and her father Peter is the firm's chairman, but Denise Coates owns half the company and there's no doubt the success is mainly hers.

LISTEN: Profile: Denise Coates

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Bet365 boss sees pay increase to ₤ 265m

Serious bettors tend to have a "system", an allegedly foolproof approach that will continue bringing rewards. So what's her "system"?

Return to the 1990s and there aren't lots of who would have gambled on the small family-run chain of local wagering shops growing to such a size.

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

"She got everything right, only asked essential questions and was angelically behaved. She was clearly off the scale. If we were talking Mensa, she 'd be in the leading 1%," he told the yohaig code BBC.

'More ladies'

She achieved a superior degree in econometrics and trained as an accountant within the family firm, building even more on the yohaig code understanding of the small chain that she selected up while working part-time during high school.

Along with an extremely eager eye for figures - the heart of any successful bookie - she is also a moderniser.

Among her colleagues, Debbie Tatton, told the BBC: "When Denise came, she wanted a better relationship in between the staff and the customers. We became a lot more professional, a lot more customer-focused. A great deal of younger individuals began can be found in, in addition to a lot more ladies."

In 2000, Ms Coates upped the stakes and encouraged the household to mortgage the service to permit them to establish new software application.

Her sibling states she ended up being focused on the potential for online betting and became a leader in that company.

Setting up headquarters in a short-term structure in an automobile park, Ms Coates called it the ultimate gamble, purchasing the domain name Bet365.com so that she could drive business because direction.

'Innate knowledge'

"She's extremely intelligent and really identified," states Warwick Bartlett, from global wagering and gaming experts GBGC.

"She is also efficient in taking a look at the huge image. Betfair was the innovator in in-play wagering, but she was essentially the first to harness mobile technology, identifying that gamblers anywhere would have the ability to bet on sporting occasions."

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

She is helped, Mr Bartlett states, by the truth that she, distinctively, really knows the industry. "The Coates household are third-generation bookmakers. They have actually found out the organization from moms and dads and grandparents.

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

Ad controversy

Mr Bartlett states close understanding of another business has assisted with the in-play football earnings: Bet365 owns local club Stoke City.

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

"On top of the contact with the professionals they take advantage of coverage through the sponsorship of the team. Bet365 has fantastic direct exposure whenever Stoke are featured."

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

But the name best related to Bet365 is, of course, Ray Winstone, whose gravelly tones used to prompt punters to "bet in play - NOW!" before the advertisements were pulled.

Again, Warwick Bartlett says, Ms Coates got it right. "Using Ray validates my point about 365, they understand their customers. He's a middle-aged guy and a little bit of a geezer.

"Cleverly, Bet365 use similar types to appeal to their clients in other markets. In Australia, it's Samuel L Jackson - he comes across in the advert as an extremely cool guy."