ByRebecca Marston Business reporter, BBC News

Denise Coates, the billionaire boss of Bet365, included another ₤ 323m to her wealth today after the business her family founded racked up another year of substantial earnings.
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She's been called the UK's most successful woman, with a fortune that Forbes publication puts in the region of ₤ 9.3 bn.

Most noticeably, she has actually made that mostly herself.

Bet365 is Stoke-on-Trent's largest economic sector company, with more than 4,600 staff. It uses its millions of around the world customers sports betting, 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.
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Ms Coates' sibling John is joint chief executive and her father Peter is the firm's chairman, but Denise Coates owns half the company and there's no doubt the success is mostly hers.

LISTEN: Profile: Denise Coates

Bet365 manager sees pay increase to ₤ 265m

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

Go back to the 1990s and there aren't many who would have bet on the small family-run chain of regional wagering shops growing to such a size.

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

"She got whatever right, just asked important questions and was angelically acted. She was clearly off the scale. If we were talking Mensa, she 'd remain in the top 1%," he informed the BBC.

'More ladies'

She attained a first-class degree in econometrics and trained as an accountant within the household company, developing further on the understanding of the little chain that she got while working part-time throughout high school.

As well as an extremely keen eye for the heart of any effective bookmaker - she is likewise a moderniser.

One of her coworkers, Debbie Tatton, told the BBC: "When Denise came, she desired a more detailed relationship between the personnel and the consumers. We ended up being a lot more professional, a lot more customer-focused. A lot of younger individuals began coming in, along with a lot more ladies."

In 2000, Ms Coates upped the stakes and convinced the household to mortgage the organization to allow them to develop brand-new software application.
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Her bro states she ended up being focused on the potential for online gaming and ended up being a pioneer in that service.

Setting up headquarters in a short-lived structure in a parking area, Ms Coates called it the supreme gamble, purchasing the domain Bet365.com so that she might drive business in that instructions.
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'Innate knowledge'

"She's highly smart and extremely figured out," says Warwick Bartlett, from worldwide wagering and gaming consultants GBGC.

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

A huge 70% of income now comes through betting on tablets and phones.
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She is helped, Mr Bartlett says, by the reality that she, uniquely, really knows the market. "The Coates family are third-generation bookmakers. They have discovered business from moms and dads and grandparents.

"She has a natural understanding of what the bettor is searching for. A lot of the business these days have supervisors that might have come from [other sectors] They are professional managers who try to apply their knowledge acquired from selling beans or margarines."

Ad debate

Mr Bartlett says close knowledge of another organization has aided with the in-play football income: Bet365 owns regional club Stoke City.
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"Owning a football club gave them an insight into the way the Premier League worked. Stoke City, not so effective itself, has actually played teams that actually are," he states.

"On top of the contact with the yohaig code specialists they gain from coverage through the sponsorship of the team. Bet365 has great direct exposure each time Stoke are featured."

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

But the name best associated with Bet365 is, obviously, Ray Winstone, whose gravelly tones used to urge punters to "bet in play - NOW!" before the advertisements were pulled.

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

"Cleverly, Bet365 usage comparable types to interest their customers in other markets. In Australia, it's Samuel L Jackson - he discovers in the advert as a very cool guy."
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Bet365 continues to keep one step ahead. It's moving into the US as the marketplace there opens.

But while Denise Coates' company brain believes global, she herself is most likely to stay rooted in Stoke.
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UK's best-paid boss makes ₤ 265m

21 November 2018

Online gambling employer made a CBE

31 December 2011
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