ByRebecca Marston
Business reporter, BBC News

Denise Coates, the billionaire manager of Bet365, added another ₤ 323m to her wealth today after the business her household founded racked up another year of huge revenues.

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

Most strikingly, she has made that largely herself.

Bet365 is Stoke-on-Trent's largest private sector company, with more than 4,600 staff. It provides its countless around the world clients sports betting, poker, casino, 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 daddy Peter is the company's chairman, however Denise Coates owns half the business and there's no doubt the success is mainly hers.

LISTEN: Profile: Denise Coates

Bet365 manager sees pay increase to ₤ 265m

Serious gamblers tend to have a "system", a supposedly foolproof approach that will keep on bringing rewards. So what's her "system"?

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

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

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

'More ladies'

She accomplished a top-notch degree in econometrics and trained as an accounting professional within the family firm, building further on the understanding of the little chain that she got while working part-time during high school.

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

One of her colleagues, Debbie Tatton, informed the BBC: "When Denise came, she wanted a closer relationship in between the personnel and the clients. We became a lot more expert, a lot more customer-focused. A lot of more youthful individuals started being available in, in addition to 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 application.

Her brother says she ended up being fixated on the capacity for online gaming and ended up being a leader in that organization.

Establishing headquarters in a temporary building in a vehicle park, Ms Coates called it the supreme gamble, buying the domain Bet365.com so that she could drive the business because instructions.

'Innate understanding'

"She's highly intelligent and very determined," states Warwick Bartlett, from international wagering and gaming experts GBGC.

"She is likewise efficient in 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 technology, recognising that bettors anywhere would be able to wager on sporting events."

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

She is helped, Mr Bartlett says, by the fact that she, distinctively, actually knows the market. "The Coates family are third-generation bookmakers. They have actually found out business from parents and grandparents.

"She has a natural knowledge of what the yohaig code bettor is searching for. A lot of the companies these days have supervisors that might have come from [other sectors] They are professional managers who try to use their knowledge acquired from offering beans or margarines."

Ad controversy

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

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

"On top of the contact with the professionals they benefit from coverage through the sponsorship of the group. Bet365 has terrific direct exposure each time Stoke are included."

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

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

Again, Warwick Bartlett states, Ms Coates got it right. "Using Ray validates 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 interest their clients in other markets. In Australia, it's Samuel L Jackson - he stumbles upon 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 up.

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

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