Who is Denise Coates?
Denise Coates is a British billionaire who is widely regarded as one of the most influential entrepreneurs of all time. Fondly referred to as the “Patron of the Potteries”, Denise serves as the co-CEO of bet365, the number one worldwide gambling company that currently has over 90 million active customers. After taking home a huge $281 million salary in 2023, more eyes than ever are on this iconic businesswoman — and you might be surprised to learn how she reached these amazing heights.
The Founding of bet365 and Explosion of Online Gambling
In 1995, Denise Coates took control of a small chain of Provincial Racing betting shops throughout the UK. She ran them successfully for a handful of years until 2000, when she decided to found bet365 from a small office building in Stoke-on-Trent. The vision behind bet365 was simple: the future of betting is online, so let’s get ahead of the curve.
📍 2000: Denise Coates decides to mortgage her father’s betting shop chain Provisional Racing to get a £15 million bank loan
📍 2001: The bank loan is used to fund the official launch of bet365, with the bet365 domain name being purchased for £18,000
Pretty quickly, bet365 became a success. It started acquiring thousands of online customers around the world, moulding itself into a leading UK online betting company. It was able to do this by offering an easy-to-use website, good odds, and the opportunity to bet on lesser-known sports and competitions, which is something that most other online competitors simply weren’t doing at the time.
📍 2006: bet365 Live Streaming hits the market, enabling customers to watch live sports directly through bet365
📍 2010: Mobile gambling is becoming more popular so bet365 make its website mobile-friendly
📍 2012: The bet365 app becomes available for download
📍 2013: bet365 reach 10 million global customers
📍 2018 – 2021: bet365 boost their worldwide reach, expanding into the Netherlands, Germany, and various other new countries
Flashforward to 2024 and Denise Coates has masterminded bet365 to become the biggest betting platform in the world, with the company employing over 7000 people and generating £2billion+ every year.
Her pioneering work has led to the emergence of many other powerful women in the iGaming sector, including the likes of FanDuel CEO Amy Howe and Jette Nygaard-Andersen (former Entain CEO, the owner of Ladbrokes). Now, women all around the world can look to Denise Coates and see her as an inspiration to start their own gambling companies and know that their dreams can become reality.
Naturally, the huge success of Denise Coates and bet365 has also inspired countless betting companies to enter the industry. For example, after bet365 launched its online casino, lots of other online casinos hit the market, too. On top of this, online sweepstakes casinos became a smash-hit, and you can see some of the best sweeps casinos currently available at sweepstakecasinobonuses.com.
Every company in the industry has been impacted or influenced by Denise Coates and bet365 in some shape or form. This is highlighted by the fact that the vast majority of gambling is now done online, with approximately 26% of the population using internet sites to place bets. One thing is for certain, Denise Coates was way ahead of the curve back in 2000 and when she successfully predicted that the future of gambling would be online.
Summary: The Legacy of Denise Coates
With bet365 sitting comfortably at the top of the online gambling pyramid, Denise Coates is a powerful woman and can be proud of the empire that she’s built.. Moving forward, you can expect bet365 to remain a leader in the gambling industry and a pioneer of new and exciting online gambling trends. Whether you’re a casual player or work directly in the gambling industry, you’ll definitely want to keep tabs on the moves Denise Coates decides to make.
