Bet365 paid its top directors and managers £428million, with the highest paid director, understood to be Ms Coates, receiving a £277million salary. Operating profits were revealed as £767million. Managing Director at Stoke City (Property) Limited. Group Property Director at Bet365 The University of Sheffield View profile View profile badges. Associate Director, Partnership & Investment at Essence. Managing Partner, Managing Director, Client Lead at Mindshare. US Marketing Manager at bet365.

Denise Coates is a British businesswoman who founded online gambling
juggernaut Bet365. She serves as the company’s co-CEO (along with her brother,
John), and she’s also their majority shareholder (50.3%). Forbes has her listed
as the 52nd richest person in the tech industry, with a net worth of $3.5
billion. This massive personal fortune is also enough to make Coates the 403rd
richest person on the planet.

Most residents of the UK, however, could pass her in the street without ever
knowing it. That’s because the 49-year-old entrepreneur prefers to keep a low
profile, and public appearances are kept to a minimum. Interviews are just as
rare, and she’s only spoken to the media on a few occasions (and then only via
email).

Jonas Warrer, Managing Director of GiG Media, said “As one of leaders in the industry, it makes us extremely proud that bet365 have decided to continue their relationship with GiG. We look forward to continuing to support them with their marketing compliance efforts and in creating a safer, responsible gaming environment together.”.

Despite her fiercely private nature, the goal of this article is to present
an in-depth bio of Denise Coates. We’ve cobbled together sources from across the
Internet, and we hope it’s enough to provide a decent picture of where she’s
been and where she’s going.

But before we start discussing Denise, let’s first take a brief look at the
life of her father, Peter Coates, as their destinies are fundamentally
intertwined.

Peter Coates

Peter Coates was born the son of a miner in Goldenhill, Stoke-on-Kent. The
youngest of 14 children, his childhood was defined by two main factors: poverty
and Stoke City football.

In order to help his family make ends meet, Coates dropped out of school at
the age of 14 and went to work in an office. This lasted until he was old enough
to enter the military, at which point he joined the Parachute Regiment to
fulfill his obligations under the 1948 National Service Act.

After leaving the military, he took a job with the Wimpy restaurant chain,
eventually rising to the position of regional manager. He also signed on with
Stoke City F.C. as an amateur, but his skills simply weren’t strong enough to
rise to the professional ranks. He would continue to play for non-league teams
such as Kidsgrove Athletic and the Goldenhill Wanderers, although he gave up
football entirely before the age of 24.

Using his restaurant background as a springboard, Coates founded Stadia
Catering. Their specialty was catering events on football grounds, and they
would eventually merge with competitor Lindley Catering.

Thanks to an overall increase in personal revenue, Coates next bought a chain
of betting shops that he dubbed Provincial Racing. He started the Signal 1 radio
station in 1983, and by 1989 he was the majority shareholder of Stoke City F.C.

Somewhere in the middle of all this, he found time to marry his wife,
Deirdre, and have four children. The eldest daughter was given the name Denise,
and it’s now time to shift to the events of her life.

Denise Coates – The Early Years

Denise Coates came into this world on September 26th, 1967. She was born; she
grew up. There’s no evidence that anything exceptional happened during those
early years. If it did, then Denise has been thoroughly unwilling to share it
with the public.

As her teenage years were drawing to a close, Denise enrolled at the
University of Sheffield. While settling into college life, she also took a job
with the family business, marking up bets in the cashier’s department of
Provincial Racing.

During this period, she met Richard Smith, the man who would later become her
husband. Time passed, and within a few years Denise had received a degree in
econometrics. For those, like me, who are unfamiliar with such a field of study,
our pal Google defines it as

After graduation, Denise returned back to the family business, or, as she
called it, “a small chain of pretty rubbish betting shops.” Her college
experience had given her the tools to take a more active hand, but she next
elected to receive further training in the accounting department. She would
later admit that the choice was helpful, although she hated the dry nature of
bookkeeping.

Impressed with her skills and work ethic, her father eventually offered her
the opportunity to run Provincial Racing. She eagerly accepted, even though the
chain had been struggling in recent years, and became Managing Director in 1995.

Under her direction, the poor fortunes of Provincial were soon reversed. Not
content to remain static, she secured a significant loan from Barclays bank and
added a neighboring chain of betting parlors to her family’s now-growing empire.

Fortunately, her gender was never an impediment in the male-dominated world
of UK sports betting. In one interview, Coates remarked,

The Rise of Bet365

Sometime near the turn of the century, Denise Coates began to suspect that
the Internet was the wave of the future for sports betting. A number of websites
already existed for those interested in placing virtual wagers, but the entire
industry was in its early stages of development. Sensing an opportunity to be on
the front lines of something huge, and to grow the family business
exponentially, Denise decided to go all in.

Her first move was to approach her brother, John Coates, and convince him to
get involved. It took a bit of prodding, as he had studied law and was working
as an attorney, but her enthusiasm and commitment eventually won him over.

According to her brother,

Denise Coates bought the Bet365.com domain name in January of 2000, but she
realized that the cost to develop the site and launch it properly would require
a massive influx of cash. She first approached a number of venture capitalists
in London, but she walked away from those meetings without a single investor.

Undeterred, she turned to her father, other family members, and the Royal
Bank of Scotland. The latter granted her a loan of more than $18 million,
although she had to put up the family’s betting shops as collateral.

Bet365.com launched in 2001, and Denise spent countless hours working on the
site from a temporary building that had been installed in a parking lot next to
one of her brick-and-mortar betting shops. Things were hectic in the early
phases, but she never wavered in her devotion.

Early on, Denise realized that Bet365 would need to take bold steps to stand
out from its already established online competitors. In order to do this, she
took the following steps:

• It was made clear to visitors that Bet365 was based in the United
  Kingdom and maintained a series of physical locations that customers could
  visit in person. This was especially important, as a large number of online
  operators were located in foreign countries with little or no regulatory
  supervision.
• Instead of just offering online sports betting, Bet365 added bingo,
  casino games, poker, horse racing, and much more. This transformed the site
  into a one-stop destination for gambling, and their business skyrocketed as
  a result.
• While competing sites tended to offer only the major sports, Bet365
  expanded to offer wagering on every imaginable league. From snooker to
  American sports, customers could visit the site and place a bet on their
  favorite team or athlete. Others would eventually adopt this model, but it’s
  important to note that Bet365 was the first to do so.
• Customer service was stressed, as bettor retention was determined to be
  vital to the long-term success of the company.
• The company worked hard to establish a reputation as a gambling
  operation that could be consistently trusted. This took time, but Bet365
  accomplished their goal by avoiding any sort of scandal or perception of
  shadiness.
• Innovation was also stressed. From their famous commercials starring
  actor Ray Winstone to constant upgrades featuring mobile and in-play
  betting, Bet365 has consistently remained one step ahead of the competition.

By 2005, the company’s success had become assured. This allowed Denise to
sell off the family’s land-based betting shops to Coral for over $50 million,
and a portion of the profits were used to pay back the Royal Bank of Scotland
for their initial loan.

The hard work of Denise became even more evident in 2013, as Bet365 earned
more than $187 million in profits. Denise and her father had both become
billionaires, which was a far cry from previous generations of Coates who
struggled in the nearby mines to eke out a living.

Also in 2013, Denise was recognized as one of the 100 most powerful women in
the United Kingdom. Just one year earlier, she was honored with the title of
Commander of the Order of the British Empire, which primarily lauded her efforts
as a businesswoman and community leader.

Bet365 Managing Director Login

A Low Key Private Life

Despite her status as one of the financial elite of the UK, Denise Coates is
not a public figure. While her picture can be found alongside various articles
on Bet365, she rarely attends events in an official capacity and only conducts
interviews via email.

In one of a handful of interviews she’s given over the years, Denise
explained her rather low-key approach:

She and husband Richard Smith, a director of the Stoke City Football Club,
live in a farmhouse at Sandbach, which is situated just outside Stoke. Her
mother and father reside next door, and most would never suspect a billionaire
lived in the area if it weren’t for the security guards and shiny Aston Martin
car (one of Denise’s few indulgences).

In interviews, she’s declined to mention if she has children. However, Forbes
magazine lists her as a mother of five, and UK documents have indicated that
four of these children were adopted from the same family. Whether she adopted or
gave birth to the remaining child remains a mystery.

Relationship with Stoke-on-Kent

Throughout her life, Denise Coates has retained a unique relationship with
the city of Stoke-on-Kent. It’s only appropriate, though, as it’s served as the
home of both her father and grandfather.

Bet365 remains one of the city’s largest employers, with an estimated 2,500
jobs being held mainly by local residents. While the company moved its official
headquarters to Gibraltar in 2015, their roots are still firmly intertwined with
the city of her birth.

This even extends to the local sports team, as Bet365 owns the Stoke City
Football Club. Peter Coates is chairman of the club, while husband Richard Smith
serves as director. Her brother also has a keen interest in the success of the
franchise, although Denise has little to do with the operation and rarely even
attends games.

In 2015, the company absorbed over $38 million in losses from its ownership
of the club. While most CEOs would immediately unload such a financial
albatross, Denise seems content to carry the burden, especially if keeps the men
in her life happy.

Philanthropy

Bet365 Managing Director

Once their empire was worth billions, the Coates family could have easily
hoarded their money and refused to help out their fellow Brits. This kind of
behavior didn’t suit Denise Coates, though, so she started the Bet365 Foundation
in August of 2012. The goal of the foundation is to make a positive difference
in the lives of others, primarily by providing front-line funding to various
charities registered in the UK.

Some of their notable contributions include the following:

• Relief programs for individuals and communities in the Philippines that
  were devastated by Typhoon Haiyan.
• Douglas Macmillan Hospice for cancer sufferers
• Oxfam organization to alleviate global poverty
• Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD)
• University Hospital of North Midlands Charitable Fund (for the purchase
  of advanced gynecological equipment)
• Pledged $345,000 to St Joseph’s College in Trent Vale to help children
  in Sierra Leone by building classrooms, digging a well for fresh water, and
  even purchasing a minibus.
• Donated $120,000 to the University of Bristol Law School, in order to
  award 40 first-year students from a low-income background with $3,000
  apiece.
• Pledged $365,000 to the Wedgwood Collection, which is an industrial
  archive collecting 250 years of British art and history.
• Supported a charity operating in sub-Saharan Africa to help those living
  with HIV/AIDS.
• Supported a charity that trains and provides assistance dogs to the
  physically disabled.
• Provided a donation to an autism charity in order to train 1,000
  teachers how to better understand the condition. Also, a support program was
  developed to help at least six autistic children be educated in mainstream
  education.
• A donation was provided to a UK charity to help combat problem gambling.
  This includes both prevention and treatment services.
• A donation was made to a UK-based charity that works with women in
  sub-Saharan Africa who are infected with HIV/AIDS. The goal of the program
  is to help more than 300 women develop the skills to monitor their own
  health and ensure that their babies are free from HIV.
• The foundation supported a charity that operates in an unnamed nation
  where female education is disproportionately low. The goal of this program
  was to ensure that more than 100,000 women were aware of their right to an
  education, as well as developing the skills and level of empowerment to
  campaign for such rights.

Conclusion

In many ways, Denise Coates is the anti-Calvin Ayre. While the Bodog
entrepreneur is fond of sharing details about his adventures and lavish
lifestyle (complete with pictures), the founder and co-CEO of Bet365 prefers to
remain out of the limelight. Instead, this bright UK businesswoman, wife, and
mother spends her time sweating the details of her business, constantly looking
for ways to improve customer satisfaction and therefore boost revenue.

Every so often, however, I like to imagine that she hits the roads near Stoke
in her Aston Martin, turns up her favorite British pop song on the radio, and
takes some time to enjoy her impressive accomplishments as a self-made
billionaire. Mind you, not that she would ever admit to such a thing.

In August 2020 and already renowned as the world’s leading gambling technology company, Playtech announced the launch of a new strategic partnership in New Jersey, with all of their best-performing games being added to the bet365 online casino platform.

Playtech

Already highly regarded around the world for their huge portfolio of casino games, Playtech has previously launched more than 700 premium branded titles, all of which were designed and developed in-house. These include DC Entertainment branded tie-ins which include Justice League, Superman and The Dark Night. Movie-themed blockbusters have also been given the slots treatment, such as The Matrix, Gladiator and Robocop.

Along with the branded cinematic titles, Playtech have enjoyed additional success with their very own original content. At the forefront is a series of slot games featuring the Age of the Gods title, all based around varied themes of ancient and classic mythology. These titles have enjoyed award-winning industry recognition as prominent attractions, having already become hugely popular at many of the world’s leading online casinos.

Playtech and bet365

Playtech has recently established a partnership with bet365 on American soil, in New Jersey, the first state to legalise casinos and sports betting activities for online players. A partnership between the two means that Playtech games will now be available at the bet365 online casino in New Jersey, significantly expanding what has already become one of the most positively received gaming platforms, since originally arriving on American shores. Famed for the vast selection of sports betting markets they have available, bet365 also offers a full spectrum of online casino gaming options for their clients including classic table games like poker and blackjack. The company have also extended their offering to remain competitive in the market by offering recently popular slot games as well as a range of roulette games.

Playtech employs almost 6,000 people at bases in 19 countries around the world, which has helped them establish a strong international foothold, with 140 global licensees in 20 regulated jurisdictions. Aside from the games, the company also provides fully integrated software suites to manage and provide seamless content, whether via mobile or desktop devices. Their long-term partnership with bet365 provides the next step into a booming American market.

Bet365

The success of bet365 is quite a remarkable story, which is largely thanks to the vision and outstanding leadership of Denise Coates, founder and joint chief executive of the online gambling company founded in 2000. Even more impressive is that as a fledgling company, bet365 was actually founded in a small portable cabin, located within a parking lot in Stoke-on-Trent.

Having led the family-owned small chain of betting shops since 1995 as managing director, Coates had already identified that online betting was the future of the industry. After purchasing the bet365.com website domain name, the online sports betting site was launched in 2001, with Coats having taken a significant gamble of her own, financing the new enterprise with a business loan of £15 million offset against the family betting shop chain.

In less than a decade, bet365 had already established itself as the foremost online sports betting site in the United Kingdom, before rapidly spreading elsewhere around Europe and the world. While the company still retains headquarters in Stoke-on-Trent, the main operating hub is now located in Gibraltar, with further bases in Malta, Bulgaria, and Australia, while presently employing more than 4,000 via their global operations.

According to financial reports published by Gambling Insider in December 2019, bet365 generated almost £3 billion in revenues over a 12-month period ending in March 2019, indicating a 10% year-on-year growth. Operating profits also increased by 12% during the same period to exceed £767 million, as mobile sports revenues grew by 18% and active customers rose 23%. This period was also marked by further American expansion with the purchase of Empire Resorts in New York.

Denise Coates

There’s no doubting that Denise Coates is the beating heart behind the success of bet365, having led the company to becoming one of the most famous names in the online gambling and gaming industry. Forbes estimate the current net worth of Coates in 2020 as having surpassed $9.5 billion, also highlighting that in 2019 she was the highest-paid British CEO with earnings of more than $432 billion.

Bet365 Managing Directors

More than a few sections of the British tabloid press have been scornful of such a high salary, although it’s impossible to deny that Coates has worked tirelessly to build such an impressive company from the ground upwards, firmly establishing bet365 as one of the most famous and profitable gambling companies in the world. Such success doesn’t come without exceptional talent and leadership qualities, which Coates has clearly demonstrated over the last two decades.

While her story isn’t entirely rags to riches, having been introduced to the gambling industry through the small but established family business, Coates is very much responsible for her own success, as one of the most ambitious visionaries within the online betting and gaming sphere. In particular, her personal success story as a career woman began its trajectory in what was predominantly a male-dominated industry, although Coates has been a driving force in changing many perceptions.

Bet365 Managing Director Salary

In recognition of her services to business and the wider community, Coates was appointed as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2012, and subsequently named as one of the 100 most powerful women in the United Kingdom by the BBC Woman’s Hour radio show. With the arrival of the bet365 brand in America in the last couple of years, with the betting and gaming industry undergoing massive changes in states throughout the country, Coates may well become one of the most influential gambling tycoons in the world.