The United Kingdom is home to less than 10% of the entire world’s population. Despite that, it boasts of the highest number of women billionaires.
How many, you ask? Well, the UK now has 25 women billionaires and counting. The richest of the lot is Kirsten Rausing who inherited a whopping £9.6bn after the death of her husband Hans Rausing. It was Hans’ dad that struck gold when he invented the Tetra Pak food containers. In fact, Kristen’s aunt, Marit, is the third richest woman in the UK. Other notable wealthy British women include J.K. Rowling, Salma Hayek, Rihanna, etc.
Kirsten and Marit Hans’ wealth may simply be due to inheritance, but it’s another matter when it comes to Denise Coates’ wealth. Denise Coates is the founder and CEO of the online betting company Bet365. Her December 2019 paycheque was a record £323m. Coates is now one of the five richest women in the UK with as much as £7.2bn to her name. She was at the helm when Bet365 made the transition from bookmaker to all-encompassing gambling giant, offering all sorts of betting options like slots, virtual sports, live dealer games and scratch cards. It was not long after that all bookmakers started to offer slots.
The house that bet365 built
Denise Coates’ story can be motivational and inspiring to any entrepreneur out there. If you are an entrepreneur, regardless of your nationality, gender or age, Coates’ success story could inspire and give you some takeaways.
How Denise Coates went from rags to riches
Denise Coates and her family not only operate the world’s most popular online gambling brand, but also the English Premier League football club – Stoke City. If you follow the English Premier League, you might know that the brand name on the Stoke City jersey is none other than – Bet365 – see the connection?
While the online gambling industry gets a fair share of criticism and sticks for being unethical, you should know that the Denise Coates foundation donated £10m to the local NHS in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. In fact, the Coates family have turned the stadium of their beloved football club into a makeshift testing center for COVID-19. Furthermore, they have allowed free use of other facilities that they own for the purpose of developing vital NHS equipment for Nightingale hospitals.
However, Denise Coates wasn’t exactly born with a silver spoon in her mouth. Just two decades ago, Denise put everything she owned on the line as collateral and used a £15m loan to start Bet365. She was living in a portable cabin in a car park while building the world’s most premier online gambling empire.
Taking Risks – Results Were Worth It
In fact, it is not only Bet365 but so many other online gambling brands that have profited from the risks she took and the sacrifices she made. She was a pioneer in the world of online gambling and many others have followed in her footsteps since. In fact, the whole online gambling industry should top their hats to this determined woman.
In an interview, Denise talked about how she was sure of her concept and believed in it 100%. She said she was convinced that the internet and gambling would be a match made in heaven. After all, the internet is widely accessible, and very private if you need it to be – exactly the kind of requirements land-based gambling and pawning shops usually have.
Denise Coates’ family operated some horse racing betting shops, but Coates sensed that the future of both sports gambling and online casinos would be online. It made sense in every way. It was easily scalable, globally implementable, and opened up gambling to millions of people who would have never even placed a bet if a local betting shop was their only option to do so.
Right Decisions at the Right Times
The idea struck Denise when she was working in an office above one of the betting shops that her family-owned in Tunstall during the late 90s. Another key decision she made which paid huge dividends is to develop their own proprietary software rather than to partner with a software development firm and license their product. The software development team was assembled and their first office space was a portable cabin in a car park.
Denise seems to have gotten her entrepreneurship from her father who himself ran a catering business and was one of the founding members of Signal Radio, he was the son of a miner.
It takes a lot of grit to put your betting shop chain (the bread and butter for her family) on the line to take a £15m and do something that has never been done before. But hey – no risk, no reward? Just like in online gambling, right?
Her own gamble was informed and well thought out. Just 4 years after Bet365 was launched in 2001, it was going so strong, that they sold their betting shop chain and focused on shaping Bet365 into the unshakeable, international brand it is today.