ByRebecca Marston
Business press reporter, BBC News

Denise Coates, the billionaire manager of Bet365, added another ₤ 323m to her wealth this promotion code week after the business her household founded racked up another year of substantial earnings.

She's been called the UK's most effective woman, with a fortune that Forbes publication puts in the region of ₤ 9.3 bn.

Most strikingly, she has made that largely herself.

Bet365 is Stoke-on-Trent's biggest private sector employer, with more than 4,600 personnel. It provides its countless around the world customers sports betting, poker, gambling establishment, games and bingo. The firm had a ₤ 3bn turnover in the year to the end of March and a profit before tax of ₤ 791m.

Ms Coates' sibling John is joint chief executive and her dad Peter is the company's chairman, however Denise Coates owns half the business and there's no doubt the success is mostly hers.

LISTEN: Profile: Denise Coates

Bet365 employer sees pay increase to ₤ 265m

Serious gamblers tend to have a "system", an allegedly sure-fire approach that will keep on bringing rewards. So what's her "system"?

Return to the 1990s and there aren't lots of who would have bet on the little family-run chain of local wagering stores growing to such a size.

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

"She got everything right, just asked important concerns and was angelically acted. She was plainly off the scale. If we were talking Mensa, she 'd remain in the leading 1%," he told the BBC.

'More women'

She accomplished a first-rate degree in econometrics and trained as an accountant within the family company, constructing further on the knowledge of the little chain that she got while working part-time throughout high school.

As well as a really keen eye for figures - the heart of any successful bookie - she is also a moderniser.

Among her colleagues, Debbie Tatton, told the BBC: "When Denise came, she wanted a better relationship between the personnel and the consumers. We ended up being a lot more professional, a lot more customer-focused. A lot of more youthful individuals started coming in, along with a lot more women."

In 2000, Ms Coates upped the stakes and persuaded the family to mortgage business to allow them to develop brand-new software.

Her brother says she became focused on the potential for online betting and became a pioneer because organization.

Setting up headquarters in a temporary building in a car park, Ms Coates called it the supreme gamble, purchasing the domain name Bet365.com so that she might drive the company in that instructions.

'Innate understanding'

"She's highly intelligent and really identified," states Warwick Bartlett, from international betting and video gaming experts GBGC.

"She is likewise capable of taking a look at the huge photo. Betfair was the innovator in in-play wagering, but she was basically the very first to harness mobile innovation, recognising that bettors anywhere would have the ability to wager on sporting events."

A huge 70% of income now comes through wagering on tablets and phones.

She is assisted, Mr Bartlett states, by the fact that she, uniquely, actually knows the industry. "The Coates household are third-generation bookies. They have found out business from moms and dads and grandparents.

"She has an innate knowledge of what the bettor is trying to find. A lot of the business these days have supervisors that might have come from [other sectors] They are professional managers who attempt to apply their understanding gained from offering beans or margarines."

Ad controversy

Mr Bartlett says close knowledge of another service has aided with the in-play football earnings: Bet365 owns regional club Stoke City.

"Owning a football club provided an insight into the way the Premier League worked. Stoke City, not so successful itself, has played teams that truly are," he states.

"On top of the contact with the specialists they take advantage of protection through the sponsorship of the yohaig code team. Bet365 has fantastic exposure every time Stoke are featured."

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

But the name best related to Bet365 is, of course, Ray Winstone, whose gravelly tones used to advise punters to "bet in play - NOW!" before the ads were pulled.

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

"Cleverly, Bet365 usage similar types to appeal to their consumers in other markets. In Australia, it's Samuel L Jackson - he stumbles upon in the advert as a really cool guy."

Bet365 continues to keep one action ahead. It's moving into the US as the market there opens.

But while Denise Coates' business brain believes international, she herself is most likely to remain rooted in Stoke.

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