Denise Coates

 BY MUDIT JAIN

The world of boardrooms and CEOs is often touted as being one for male domination but, not in the case of Denise Coates. Denise Coates is a British billionaire businesswoman, the founder, majority owner and joint chief executive of online gambling company Bet365.  She owns around half of the privately held betting giant , which records more than $65 billion in bets annually. She controversially paid herself more than $700 Million in 2020, making her the highest-paid British CEO.

Coates started as she meant to go on, with an immaculate school record and a first-class degree, before training as an accountant within the family-run business. But the key difference between her and other people was the eye for innovation she had which put her way ahead of time.

The internet and the dot.com revolution was just starting to blow up into the social and shopping juggernaut it has become today, and this coincided perfectly with Coates’ plan for the future. Not only that, her priority on customers and a dedicated attitude attracted many more players, including more young bettors and more women. Perhaps the game changing moment came in the year 2000 when, at her persuasion, the family mortgaged their business to develop a new revolutionary software. A vision for mobile betting combined with having grown up in a betting family meant Coates possessed the twin gifts of knowing her business inside out and had the foresight to plan the way forward which proved very lucrative in the future.

Indeed, such is Coates’ record that she’s been called the most successful woman in British history and is estimated by Forbes to have a fortune in excess of £9.3bn. In the 20 years since the family mortgaged the original business they now see 75% of their main income via online betting. Nowadays the vast majority of online betting parlours and casinos come with mobile compatibility as the integral function, many with dedicated applications, but Coates was the first revolutionary to see this coming before it happened, enabling Bet365 to be ahead of the curve and forge ahead of many rivals, while also revolutionising the betting and gambling industry. From clever marketing campaigns to spotting the dot.com potential before others could, Coates’ familiarity with the betting industry, head for figures, and bold leadership style has helped her carve out a huge slice of the lucrative British, and international, betting scene for her family business.

Huge progress has been made in recent decades towards equality of the sexes, and while it can appear that certain sectors remain dominated by one gender or the other, it’s undoubtedly not the case with the online gambling and betting industry as seen in the case of Coates that with sufficient drive, determination, and wits, one can achieve fantastic success.