British gambling company
Bet365 is a British gambling company founded in 2000. Its product offering includes sports betting, online casino, online 🌜 poker, and online bingo. Business operations are conducted from its headquarters in Stoke-on-Trent, alongside a satellite office in Malta. It 🌜 was founded by Denise Coates, who remains the majority shareholder and joint-chief executive, alongside her brother John Coates.
Overview [ edit 🌜 ]
Bet365 is an online gambling company offering sports betting and casino type games.
In addition to the company headquarters in Stoke-on-Trent, 🌜 Bet365 have further offices in Manchester, Gibraltar,[1] Malta,[2] Bulgaria and Australia. The group employed over 4,000 people as of 2024.[3][4]
Bet365 🌜 is a trading name of Hillside (New Media) Ltd.[5] and operations.
History [ edit ]
Bet365 was founded in 2000 in a 🌜 portable building[3] in Stoke-on-Trent by Denise Coates. Denise developed a sports betting platform and trading team to launch the business 🌜 online in March 2001. The business borrowed £15 million from Royal Bank of Scotland against the family's betting shop estate 🌜 which had been started by Peter Coates in 1974 and had been run by Denise Coates as managing director from 🌜 1995. Bet365 sold its betting shop chain in 2005 for £40 million to Coral and paid off its loan to 🌜 RBS.[6]
Bet365 chairman Peter Coates was also the chairman at Stoke City and in May 2012 Bet365 signed a three-year contract 🌜 with the club to become shirt sponsors.[7] In April 2024, the company became the new title sponsors for the club's 🌜 stadium for the next six seasons, replacing fellow local enterprise the Britannia Building Society.[8] In the summer of 2024, Bet365 🌜 also signed shirt sponsorship deals with Bulgarian clubs Ludogorets Razgrad and Slavia Sofia for the upcoming two seasons.[9][failed verification]
Bet365's reported 🌜 figures (March 2024-21) showed revenues of £2.8 billion and a profit of £470 million before tax.[10]
Denise Coates, joint chief executive, 🌜 continues to run Bet365 and is the majority shareholder with 50.1% of the shares. Her brother John, joint chief executive, 🌜 runs the business alongside her, with her father Peter holding the position of chairman.
In the summer of 2024, the largest 🌜 UK bookmakers and online casino operators William Hill, GVC Holdings, Flutter Entertainment, Stars Group and Bet365 entered into an agreement 🌜 to transfer funds to combat gambling addiction. They agreed to increase the amount from 0.1% to 1% of gross income 🌜 in the next five years. The initiative was welcomed by a harm reduction group, but also received criticism for its 🌜 perceived inadequacy; one MP described it as "a bribe to appease campaigners and the UK government".[11]
Overseas operations [ edit ]
In 🌜 2024, shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on sports betting allowed U.S. states to regulate sports betting, Bet365 announced 🌜 plans to launch in the United States starting with the state of New Jersey with a partnership with Hard Rock 🌜 Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City.[12] The company would later announce in September 2024 that Bet365 will launch in Colorado 🌜 with a licensing and revenue share deal with Century Casinos. Bet365 opened up operations in Colorado on 6 September 2024.[13][14]
In 🌜 April 2024, Bet365 was also launched in Ontario after it was approved by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario 🌜 to conduct sports betting activities in the province following the passing of a new Canadian law that legalized single-game betting.[15]
Awards 🌜 and achievements [ edit ]
At the eGaming Review Operator Awards 2010 organised by eGaming Review magazine, Bet365 won the "Operator 🌜 of the Year" award.[16] Bet365 ranked third in The Sunday Times Profit Track 100 league table, which ranks private companies 🌜 in the UK based on profit growth rate.[17] Bet365 was also ranked as one of the fastest growing privately owned 🌜 technology, media and telecoms companies in The Sunday Times Tech Track 100 league table.
eGaming Review magazine has ranked Bet365 the 🌜 number one Internet gaming company in 2010, 2011 and 2012 as part of its annual Power 50 list of the 🌜 top 50 most influential Internet gaming companies.[18] Denise Coates, founder and joint CEO of Bet365, received a CBE in the 🌜 2012 Queen's new year honours list for services to the community and business.[19] In February 2013 Denise Coates was named 🌜 as one of the 100 most powerful women in the United Kingdom by Woman's Hour at BBC Radio 4.[20]
In December 🌜 2024, Bet365 won the coveted SBC Bookmaker of the Year for the third consecutive year.
Controversies [ edit ]
In October 2014, 🌜 The Guardian newspaper reported that the company had been taking bets from Chinese citizens by using obscure domain names in 🌜 order to avoid government web censorship.[21]
In 2024, Bet365 was finedR$2.75 million AUD by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission for 🌜 misleading advertisements which falsely promised "free bets" to customers.[22]
Denise Coates became the highest paid executive in the UK in 2024, 🌜 awarding herself a salary of £217 million.[23] In 2024, her pay packet rose to £265m as the company reported profits 🌜 up 31% to £660 million, prompting criticism from problem gambling charity groups.[24] In January 2024, Bet365 ranked second on The 🌜 Sunday Times list of the UK's top taxpayers, with the Coates family (Denise, John and Peter) paying an estimated total 🌜 tax of £156 million, of which £99 million was paid by Denise alone.[25]
Further criticism highlights repeated cases of Bet365 delaying 🌜 or denying payment to winning players. For example, Bet365 was taken to court for refusing to pay over £1 million 🌜 in winnings to a horse bettor in Northern Ireland in 2024.[26] The company refused a payout of £54,000 to a 🌜 customer in England in 2024, a case which was still ongoing in 2024.[27][28] In Australia, Bet365 froze the account of 🌜 a punter who had won aroundR$200,000 AUD in 2024, refusing to pay out.[29] These are just some of the most 🌜 noteworthy instances; several more cases of Bet365 refusing to pay winnings have been reported by gamblers on Internet gambling forums.[30][31]
Although 🌜 gambling is illegal in most jurisdictions of India, Bet365 nonetheless conducted surrogate advertising in the country. India's consumer affairs ministry 🌜 served notices to various television channels and apps for promoting gambling companies and asked them to stop showing ads from 🌜 Bet365 and other betting platforms immediately.[32]
Media [ edit ]
In the UK, the face of Bet365, since 2010, has been actor 🌜 Ray Winstone.[33]
