ByRebecca Marston
Business press reporter, BBC News

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

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

Most noticeably, she has made that mainly herself.

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

Ms Coates' bro John is joint president and her father Peter is the firm's chairman, but Denise Coates owns half the company and there's no doubt the success is largely hers.

LISTEN: Profile: Denise Coates

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Serious gamblers tend to have a "system", an apparently foolproof method that will continue bringing benefits. So what's her "system"?

Go back to the 1990s and there aren't lots of who would have bet on the small family-run chain of local wagering 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 everything right, just asked significant questions and was angelically acted. She was plainly off the scale. If we were talking Mensa, she 'd remain in the leading 1%," he informed the BBC.

'More women'

She accomplished a superior degree in econometrics and trained as an accountant within the household firm, developing even more on the knowledge of the small 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 likewise a moderniser.

Among her coworkers, Debbie Tatton, informed the BBC: "When Denise came, she wanted a more detailed relationship between the staff and the customers. We became a lot more expert, a lot more customer-focused. A great deal of younger people started being available in, in addition to a lot more women."

In 2000, Ms Coates upped the stakes and persuaded the household to mortgage business to allow them to establish new software application.

Her bro says she ended up being focused on the potential for online gaming and became a leader in that business.

Establishing head office in a short-term structure in a parking lot, Ms Coates called it the ultimate gamble, purchasing the domain name Bet365.com so that she could drive business because instructions.

'Innate understanding'

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

"She is also capable of taking a look at the huge picture. Betfair was the innovator in in-play betting, however she was basically the very first to harness mobile technology, identifying that gamblers anywhere would be able to wager on sporting events."

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

She is helped, Mr Bartlett says, by the yohaig code reality that she, uniquely, really knows the market. "The Coates family are third-generation bookmakers. They have discovered business from parents and grandparents.

"She has an inherent understanding of what the gambler is looking for. A great deal of the companies nowadays have supervisors that might have come from [other sectors] They are professional managers who attempt to use their understanding got from offering beans or margarines."

Ad controversy

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

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

"On top of the contact with the specialists they gain from coverage through the sponsorship of the group. Bet365 has terrific 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 connected with Bet365 is, naturally, Ray Winstone, whose gravelly tones used to urge punters to "wager in play - NOW!" before the advertisements were pulled.

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

"Cleverly, Bet365 usage comparable types to appeal to their consumers in other markets. In Australia, it's Samuel L Jackson - he discovers 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 up.

But while Denise Coates' company brain thinks international, she herself is likely to stay rooted in Stoke.

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