Denise Coates is considered an iconic personality in the betting industry. She is the CEO and the largest shareholder of Bet365. This woman has made a significant contribution to the development of online sports betting and continues actively influencing this market.
The founding of Bet365 and the move to online
Denise’s father, Peter Coates, had a successful catering business. In 1974, he decided to expand his business by establishing a small chain of sports betting shops. He employed his daughter in his office as a cashier. After graduating in economics at the University of Sheffield, she began working as an accountant. Denise had an aptitude for management, so her father soon promoted her to executive director.
Denise expanded the network of betting shops to 50, which doubled the company’s turnover. However, in the early 2000s, competition in betting increased. At that time, the Internet was already widespread, so Denise decided to go online. To realize her goal, she took a loan of almost 20 million dollars. With this money, she continued to develop the land-based PPPs and the website.
However, this amount was not enough to develop the company fully. Therefore, in 2005, Denise decided to sell all betting shops to BC Coral. The deal brought her 50 million dollars, which she used to develop Bet365 on the Internet.
Obviously, the bet on online betting has fully justified itself in the following decades. After all, most modern people prefer to bet online. Bookmaker websites and apps provide a variety of betting opportunities. The key focus is on the availability of various sports disciplines and championships. Among the trends in recent months include IPL. The Indian cricket championship has gained popularity outside the country. Therefore, many bookmakers have included it in their lines. If you study Iplbetting.guru, you can find many famous bookmakers with bets on IPL. Based on the information on this largest website, one can notice the increasing popularity of cricket even in Europe and the USA.
Personal life
Not much is known about Denise Coates’ life outside of business: she lives next door to her father and maintains a good relationship with him. Her husband is one of the directors of Stoke City Football Club. They also have four children, whom they adopted.
The businesswoman prefers not to talk about her personal life and the people around her. But it is evident that she loves her city and worries about the future of the country as a whole.
So, she decided not to move Bet365 Group Ltd head office offshore, as other well-known betting companies have done. Hundreds of millions a year are lost because of this, but it’s essential to Denise that the office is based in Stoke-on-Trent—where it all started. Initially, there was a small food cart in a parking lot near the soccer stadium. Over the years, it has grown into a giant company.
The woman has done a lot for Stoke-on-Trent. It was once a small town of less than 250,000 people with low wages and high unemployment. It’s different now. For example, Denise helped Wedgwood porcelain factory avoid bankruptcy: she not only helped it stay afloat but also expanded production and created almost 300 jobs.
The woman is also known as a philanthropist. Every year, she invests hundreds of millions of dollars in funds focused on the development of medicine, education, and social projects.
Billions for correct and timely decisions
In 2012, Bet365 Group Ltd.’s operating profit amounted to over 150 million dollars. According to some estimates, the Coates family fortune was estimated at 800 million dollars at the time, but that’s taking into account other activities.
According to Forbes, Denise Coates is one of the 500 richest people in the world. Her fortune is 4.6 billion dollars. She is also the only female billionaire in the UK and the wealthiest bookmaker.
Denise’s salary has been increasing exponentially over the last few years. Some are not happy about this. But she saw the potential in the development of online betting and still makes a significant contribution to this direction.