ByRebecca Marston
Business press reporter, BBC News

Denise Coates, the billionaire boss of Bet365, included another ₤ 323m to her wealth today after the company her family founded racked up another year of substantial profits.

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 noticeably, she has made that largely herself.

Bet365 is Stoke-on-Trent's biggest economic sector company, with more than 4,600 staff. It offers its millions of worldwide 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.

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

LISTEN: Profile: Denise Coates

Bet365 employer sees pay rise to ₤ 265m

Serious gamblers tend to have a "system", a supposedly sure-fire technique that will keep on bringing benefits. 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 betting shops 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 whatever right, just asked relevant questions and was angelically acted. She was clearly off the scale. If we were talking Mensa, she 'd remain in the leading 1%," he told the BBC.

'More ladies'

She accomplished a first-rate degree in econometrics and trained as an accountant within the family firm, developing even more on the knowledge of the small chain that she chose up while working part-time during high school.

As well as a very eager eye for figures - the heart of any effective bookmaker - she is also a moderniser.

One of her associates, Debbie Tatton, told the BBC: "When Denise came, she desired a better relationship between the personnel and the customers. We ended up being a lot more professional, a lot more customer-focused. A great deal of younger individuals began being available in, along with a lot more women."

In 2000, Ms Coates upped the stakes and convinced the family to mortgage the organization to permit them to develop new software.

Her bro says she ended up being fixated on the potential for online gambling and became a pioneer because company.

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

'Innate understanding'

"She's highly smart and extremely identified," says Warwick Bartlett, from global wagering and video gaming experts GBGC.

"She is likewise efficient in taking a look at the huge photo. Betfair was the innovator in in-play betting, but she was basically the first to harness mobile technology, acknowledging that bettors anywhere would be able to bet on sporting events."

A big 70% of earnings now comes through banking on tablets and phones.

She is helped, Mr Bartlett states, by the reality that she, distinctively, actually understands the market. "The Coates family are third-generation bookies. They have actually discovered business from parents and grandparents.

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

Ad debate

Mr Bartlett states close understanding of another company has actually assisted with the in-play football income: Bet365 owns local club Stoke City.

"Owning a football club gave them an insight into the method the Premier League worked. Stoke City, not so effective itself, has played groups that really are," he says.

"On top of the contact with the specialists they benefit from protection through the sponsorship of the group. Bet365 has fantastic direct exposure every time Stoke are included."

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

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

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

"Cleverly, Bet365 usage comparable types to interest their customers in other markets. In Australia, it's Samuel L Jackson - he comes across in the advert as a very cool guy."

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

But while Denise Coates' service brain believes worldwide, she herself is likely to remain rooted in Stoke.

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