ByRebecca Marston
Business reporter, BBC News

Denise Coates, the billionaire boss of Bet365, added another ₤ 323m to her wealth this promotion code week after the business her household founded racked up another year of big profits.

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

Most noticeably, she has made that mainly herself.

Bet365 is Stoke-on-Trent's largest private sector employer, with more than 4,600 staff. It provides its countless 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 profit before tax of ₤ 791m.

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

LISTEN: Profile: Denise Coates

Bet365 boss sees pay increase to ₤ 265m

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

Return to the 1990s and there aren't numerous 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 impressive from an early age. David Owen taught her at secondary school in the 1980s.

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

'More women'

She achieved a first-rate degree in econometrics and trained as an accountant within the household firm, building further on the understanding of the little chain that she picked up while working part-time during high school.

As well as an extremely eager eye for figures - the heart of any effective bookie - she is also a moderniser.

One of her colleagues, Debbie Tatton, told 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, as well as a lot more ladies."

In 2000, Ms Coates upped the stakes and convinced the household to mortgage the service to enable them to establish new software application.

Her sibling says she ended up being fixated on the potential for online betting and ended up being a leader because service.

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

'Innate understanding'

"She's extremely smart and extremely identified," says Warwick Bartlett, from worldwide betting and video gaming consultants GBGC.

"She is also efficient in taking a look at the big photo. Betfair was the innovator in in-play betting, but she was basically the very first to harness mobile technology, identifying that bettors anywhere would be able to wager on sporting events."

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

She is helped, Mr Bartlett states, by the reality that she, uniquely, actually understands the market. "The Coates family are third-generation bookmakers. They have discovered business from parents and grandparents.

"She has an innate understanding of what the gambler is trying to find. A lot of the business nowadays have managers that might have originated from [other sectors] They are expert managers who attempt to apply their understanding got from selling beans or margarines."

Ad controversy

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

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

"On top of the contact with the specialists they take advantage of protection through the sponsorship of the group. Bet365 has excellent direct exposure whenever Stoke are included."

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

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

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

"Cleverly, Bet365 use comparable types to attract their consumers in other markets. In Australia, it's Samuel L Jackson - he comes throughout in the advert as a really cool guy."

Bet365 continues to keep one step ahead. It's moving into the US as the marketplace there opens.

But while Denise Coates' company brain thinks worldwide, she herself is most likely to remain rooted in Stoke.

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