ByRebecca Marston
Business press reporter, BBC News

Denise Coates, the billionaire employer of Bet365, added another ₤ 323m to her wealth this promotion code week after the business her family founded acquired another year of huge earnings.

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

Most noticeably, she has made that mostly herself.

Bet365 is Stoke-on-Trent's biggest economic sector employer, with more than 4,600 personnel. It offers its millions of around the world consumers sports betting, poker, gambling establishment, games and bingo. The company 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 chief executive and her daddy Peter is the firm's chairman, but Denise Coates owns half the company and there's no doubt the success is mainly hers.

LISTEN: Profile: Denise Coates

Bet365 employer sees pay increase to ₤ 265m

Serious bettors tend to have a "system", an apparently sure-fire method that will keep bringing rewards. So what's her "system"?

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

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

"She got whatever right, only asked relevant questions and was angelically behaved. 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 attained a superior degree in econometrics and trained as an accountant within the household company, building further on the knowledge of the little chain that she got while working part-time during high school.

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

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

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

Her sibling says she ended up being focused on the capacity for online betting and became a pioneer because business.

Establishing head office in a temporary structure in a parking lot, Ms Coates called it the supreme gamble, buying the domain name Bet365.com so that she might drive the company because direction.

'Innate understanding'

"She's highly intelligent and extremely determined," says Warwick Bartlett, from global betting and video gaming consultants GBGC.

"She is likewise efficient in looking at the big image. Betfair was the innovator in in-play betting, but she was basically the first to harness mobile innovation, identifying that bettors anywhere would be able to bank on sporting events."

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

She is assisted, Mr Bartlett says, by the reality that she, distinctively, actually understands the market. "The Coates household are third-generation bookmakers. They have discovered the organization from parents and grandparents.

"She has an inherent understanding of what the bettor is looking for. A lot of the yohaig code business these days have supervisors that may have originated from [other sectors] They are expert managers who try to apply their understanding gained from offering beans or margarines."

Ad controversy

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

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

"On top of the contact with the professionals they take advantage of coverage through the sponsorship of the group. Bet365 has fantastic direct exposure whenever Stoke are featured."

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

But the name best connected with Bet365 is, obviously, Ray Winstone, whose gravelly tones used to urge punters to "wager in play - NOW!" before the advertisements were pulled.

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

"Cleverly, Bet365 usage similar types to interest their customers in other markets. In Australia, it's Samuel L Jackson - he stumbles upon in the advert as an extremely 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' business brain believes worldwide, she herself is most likely to remain rooted in Stoke.

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