Denise Coates Net Worth: Building Bet365 for $7.7 Billion

Denise Coates is a British billionaire businesswoman and the founder of one of the world’s most popular online gambling platforms, Bet365. She is currently the co-CEO of Bet365, working alongside her billionaire brother John Coates. As of 2024, Denise Coates’ net worth is estimated at an incredible $7.7 billion – and rising.

For several years now, Denise Coates has been one of the wealthiest women in the United Kingdom, as well as the highest-paid executive in the country. As a pioneer in the field, she is one of the first to take the betting industry online – and with an incredible profit.

If you are interested in learning more about Bet365 founder Denise Coates, keep reading this post.

Denise Coates’s Net Worth Breakdown:

Denise Coates is a very private person, so there is little known about her spending or investments outside Bet365. For the most part, her fortune comes from her salary and ownership of the gambling company. Her net worth is made of the gargantuan salaries she has earned over the years, earning more than most executives in the UK.

Even though we couldn’t find details of what she earned at the beginning of the Bet365 empire, Coates’ earnings in recent years have been publicly disclosed and subject to many debates. All this data has allowed us to create a comprehensive breakdown of the CEO’s major assets and earnings:

Denise Coates Net Worth: Early Life and Education

Denise Coates is the eldest daughter of the chairman of Stoke City F.C., Peter Coates. She was born on September 26, 1967, in England.

Seeing how Coates lives a very private life, there is little known about her early years. What we do know is that she earned a first-class degree in econometrics from the University of Sheffield and joined the family business while in college, marking up bets in a cashier department of Provincial Racing. Provincial Racing was the family’s bookmaking company and the place where Coates learned the basis for her gambling career.

After she graduated from the University of Sheffield, Denise Coates returned to the family business, which she described as “a small chain of pretty rubbish betting shops”. She instantly took a more active role in the company, training in the accounting department, which helped her with her bookkeeping skills.

Soon after, Peter Coates gave his daughter the chance to manage Provincial Racing, a struggling business at the time. She became the managing director of the family’s betting shops in 1995.

Personal Life

Coates married Richard Smith and has five children, four of which were adopted from a single family.

Denise Coates Net Worth: Creating One of the World’s Biggest Gambling Brands

Under Denise Coates’ leadership, the family’s betting shops started growing once again. The poor fortunes of Provincial were reversed, and she even took a loan from Barclays Bank to add a neighboring chain of betting shops to the expanding family business.

Not long after, Coates’ expertise and knowledge of the gambling industry led to the creation of Bet365, an empire that rose in the earliest stages of the development of online gambling.

The Birth of Bet365

In January 2000, Denise Coates decided to purchase the domain Bet365.com for around $25,000 from an online seller, in partnership with her brother John Coates. It took her a while to convince her brother to get involved, but they eventually secured a loan from the Royal Bank of London to invest in her idea.

The business borrowed £15 million from the bank, using the family’s betting shop estate as leverage. In 2005, the family sold their shops to Coral for £40 million, and Denise used the money to pay off the loan to RBS.

Denise Coates wasted no time in launching her online gambling website, which went live in 2001 and worked around the clock. She started working from a temporary site located in a parking lot next to one of the family’s betting shops.

Coates worked tirelessly to boost the success of the website, taking on a major risk by using her family’s source of income as leverage for her business idea. Luckily for them, her idea and hard work led to incredible success, and their gamble paid off.

How Successful is Bet365?

By 2005, Bet365 was already a major success in the industry. In 2013, the website made over $187 million in profits, making Denise and her family billionaires. It was at this point that they sold the old family business since, let’s face it, they didn’t need it any longer.

As of 2016, Bet365 is one of the largest gambling companies worldwide, having amassed $2 billion in revenues and streamlining $65 billion in yearly bets.

Bet365 also owns a majority stake in Stoke City Football Club.

How Much Does Denise Coates Earn?

Denise Coates owns approximately half of Bet365. She runs the company alongside her brother as co-CEO, and most of her net worth comes from dividends and salaries at this business.

As the founder of one of the most profitable gambling companies, Coates earns a huge salary in addition to the fortune she gets in dividends. In 2018, she was the highest-paid woman in the world and, between 2019 and 2022, she was the highest taxpayer in the British Empire. According to the Sunday Times Rich List, Denise Coates has been the highest-paid chief executive in Britain for years now.

While not all of her yearly salaries are disclosed, we did find some information on what Coates has been earning over the years:

• 2017 salary: £217 million
• 2018 salary: £265 million
• 2019 salary: £323 million, including salary and dividends
• 2020 salary: £469 million (includes £48 million in dividends)
• 2021 salary: £250 million plus around £97.5 million in dividends
• 2022 salary: £213 million plus around £100 million in dividends
• 2023 salary: £221 million plus at least £100 million in dividends

Her salaries between 2017 and 2023 add up to over $2.5 billion alone, dividends excluded.

According to the Sunday Times, the Coates family was the UK’s second-highest tax-payer in 2023, contributing around $585 million.

Denise Coates Net Worth: Other Investments & Ventures

Denise Coates makes hundreds of millions of millions every year, and while she lives a very private life, she donates a lot of her fortune to charitable causes. In addition to this, she has a portion of her wealth invested in real estate.

Philanthropy

In August 2012, Denise Coates set up the Bet365 foundation. In 2016, she renamed it Denise Coates Foundation, which is currently operating as a registered charity under English law. Since 2014, she has used the Denise Coates Foundation to donate £100 million to twenty different UK charities. In 2022, for instance, the charity donated a million pounds to help Ukrainian families.

Some other charitable donations that have come from Coates’ foundation include:

• Douglas Macmillan Hospice for cancer sufferers (Stoke)
• Oxfam
• CAFOD
• Staffordshire University students (bursaries worth £1,500 each)
• St Joseph’s College in Trent Vale to support vulnerable people in Sierra Leone (£230,000 donation)
• The New Vic Theatre in Newcastle-under-Lyme for redevelopment (£235,000 donation)
• University Hospitals of North Midlands to support the staff fighting coronavirus (£10 million donation)
• Relief programs for victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines

Awards and Accolades

In 2012, Coates received the Commander of the Order of the British Empire for her contributions to the Stoke-on-Trent local community, where Bet365 is headquartered.

In the same year, Staffordshire University awarded Coates an honorary doctorate.

In 2013, BBC Radio 4 named Coates one of the 100 most powerful women in the UK, based on the rating of Woman’s Hour.

In 2019, she was inducted into the Sports Betting Hall of Fame, which is run by the Sports Betting Community.

Real Estate

Even though Coates and her family live a very private life, it is no secret that she and her husband are building their dream house in Crewe, UK. The project is said to cost Coates $111 million, and the property began construction in 2019. When it is done, it will be a ‘glass palace’ with a 75,000 square-foot artificial lake and a matching glass lake house.

What Can We Learn from Denise Coates’ Story?

Denise Coates has a highly inspiring story, one of innovation, vision, and hard work. She saw an opportunity in the early stages of the internet and capitalized on it. Her vision to take the betting industry online was pioneering, and teaches us of the importance of identifying emerging trends.

But, it is not sufficient just to come up with a good idea. Coates’ story is one of courage and determination, as well. Despite the significant risks involved, Coates was determined to transform her future. She secured a substantial loan using the family’s shops as leverage, taking a very bold step. Coates bought the domain and invested heavily in her idea, supported by her family who believed in her worth.

Coates’ commitment to her business is evident in the countless hours she spent learning at her family business’ cashiers department, and then in the hours she invested in building Bet365. Her dedication to improving her skills and working around the clock in the early stages of the company underscores the importance of hard work in achieving success.

Coates’ background in econometrics and her experience in the family business equipped her with strong financial skills and knowledge of the gambling industry. This, in return, has helped her manage finances, secure loans, and make informed decisions when it comes to her investments and leadership. Understanding financial management is key to sustaining – and growing a business.

Despite her immense wealth, Coates remains committed to philanthropy. Through her foundation, she has donated millions to charitable causes, which highlights the importance of giving back to the community.

Finally, Coates has maintained a private life despite her success, which is admirable. Balancing professional achievements with personal privacy can be challenging, but her story emphasizes that one can be both – successful and protective of their personal life.