How Bet365's Denise Coates Hit her Own Jackpot
ByRebecca Marston
Business reporter, BBC News
Denise Coates, the billionaire boss of Bet365, included another ₤ 323m to her wealth today after the company her household established 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 area of ₤ 9.3 bn.
Most strikingly, she has made that mostly herself.
Bet365 is Stoke-on-Trent's largest private sector employer, with more than 4,600 staff. It provides its millions of worldwide customers sports betting, poker, casino, 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' brother 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 employer sees pay increase to ₤ 265m
Serious bettors tend to have a "system", an allegedly sure-fire 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 little family-run chain of regional betting 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 whatever right, only asked relevant concerns and was angelically acted. She was clearly off the scale. If we were talking Mensa, she 'd remain in the top 1%," he told the BBC.
'More ladies'
She attained a first-class degree in econometrics and trained as an accountant within the household firm, developing even more on the knowledge of the small chain that she got while working part-time during high school.
ByRebecca Marston
Business reporter, BBC News
Denise Coates, the billionaire boss of Bet365, included another ₤ 323m to her wealth today after the company her household established 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 area of ₤ 9.3 bn.
Most strikingly, she has made that mostly herself.
Bet365 is Stoke-on-Trent's largest private sector employer, with more than 4,600 staff. It provides its millions of worldwide customers sports betting, poker, casino, 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' brother 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 employer sees pay increase to ₤ 265m
Serious bettors tend to have a "system", an allegedly sure-fire 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 little family-run chain of regional betting 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 whatever right, only asked relevant concerns and was angelically acted. She was clearly off the scale. If we were talking Mensa, she 'd remain in the top 1%," he told the BBC.
'More ladies'
She attained a first-class degree in econometrics and trained as an accountant within the household firm, developing even more on the knowledge of the small chain that she got while working part-time during high school.