ByRebecca Marston
Business reporter, BBC News

Denise Coates, the billionaire employer of Bet365, added another ₤ 323m to her wealth today after the company her household established acquired another year of substantial profits.

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

Most strikingly, she has actually made that mainly herself.

Bet365 is Stoke-on-Trent's biggest private sector company, with more than 4,600 personnel. It provides its millions of worldwide customers sports betting, poker, casino, video games and bingo. The firm 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 chief executive and her dad Peter is the company's chairman, however Denise Coates owns half the company and there's no doubt the success is largely hers.

LISTEN: Profile: Denise Coates

Bet365 employer sees pay increase to ₤ 265m

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

Go back to the 1990s and there aren't many who would have bet on the little family-run chain of regional betting stores growing to such a size.

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

"She got everything right, only 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 informed the BBC.

'More girls'

She accomplished a top-notch degree in econometrics and trained as an accounting professional within the household company, constructing even more on the understanding of the small chain that she got while working part-time during high school.

In addition to a very eager eye for figures - the heart of any effective bookmaker - she is likewise a moderniser.

Among her associates, Debbie Tatton, told the BBC: "When Denise came, she wanted a more detailed relationship between the staff and the clients. We ended up being a lot more professional, a lot more customer-focused. A great deal of younger people began can be found in, along with a lot more girls."

In 2000, Ms Coates upped the stakes and convinced the family to mortgage business to permit them to establish new software.

Her brother says she became fixated on the potential for online betting and became a leader in that company.

Setting up head office in a temporary structure in a parking area, Ms Coates called it the ultimate gamble, buying the domain Bet365.com so that she might drive business in that instructions.

'Innate understanding'

"She's extremely smart and extremely identified," states Warwick Bartlett, from international wagering and video gaming experts GBGC.

"She is also capable of looking at the huge image. Betfair was the innovator in in-play wagering, however she was essentially the first to harness mobile innovation, acknowledging that bettors anywhere would be able to wager on sporting events."

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

She is helped, Mr Bartlett states, by the reality that she, uniquely, truly knows the yohaig code industry. "The Coates family are third-generation bookies. They have actually learned business from moms and dads and grandparents.

"She has an innate understanding of what the gambler is searching for. A lot of the business nowadays have managers that may have originated from [other sectors] They are professional managers who try to use their knowledge acquired from selling beans or margarines."

Ad controversy

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

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

"On top of the contact with the professionals they benefit from protection through the sponsorship of the team. Bet365 has terrific exposure each time Stoke are included."

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

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

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

"Cleverly, Bet365 usage similar types to appeal to their clients in other markets. In Australia, it's Samuel L Jackson - he discovers in the advert as a very cool guy."

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

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

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