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Bet365 Group Ltd.
Type of site
Private
Founded2000; 24 years ago (2000)
Headquarters
Stoke-on-Trent
,
England
Area servedUnited Kingdom
OwnerDenise Coates
John Coates
Peter Coates
Founder(s)Denise Coates
IndustryOnline gambling
ServicesOnline betting & gaming
RevenueIncrease £2.981 billion[1] (2019)
Operating incomeIncrease £767 million[1]
EmployeesIncrease 4646[1]
URLwww.bet365.com

Bet365 Group Ltd (commonly known as ’bet365’) is a British online gambling company based in the United Kingdom. It was founded by Denise Coates, who remains the majority shareholder and joint-chief executive alongside her brother, John.

Overview

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, Malta, Bulgaria and Australia.[citation needed] The group employed over 4,000 people as of 2020.[2][3]

Bet365 is a trading name of Hillside (New Media) Ltd.[4] and operations including payments through the affiliate programme[5] are carried out under that name.

History

Bet365 was founded in 2000 in a portable building[2] 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 RBS 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 also has the same[specify] position at Stoke City and in May 2012 Bet365 signed a three-year contract with the club to become shirt sponsors.[7] In April 2016, 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 2016, Bet365 also signed shirt sponsorship deals with Bulgarian clubs Ludogorets Razgrad and Slavia Sofia for the upcoming two seasons.[9]

Bet365's reported figures to March 2018 showing amounts wagered on sports at £52.56 billion, revenues of £2.86 billion and an operating profit of £660.3 million.

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.

Currently building a purpose built office in Malta, overlooking Valletta.

In the summer of 2019, 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 5 years.

Awards and achievements

At the eGaming Review Operator Awards 2010 organised by eGaming Review magazine, Bet365 won the "Operator of the Year" award.[10] Bet365 ranked third in The Sunday Times Profit Track 100 league table, which ranks private companies in the UK based on profit growth rate.[11] 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.[12] 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.[13] 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.[14]

At the Global Gaming Awards Las Vegas 2018, Bet365 won the "Digital Operator" award.[15] At the Global Gaming Awards London 2021, Bet365 won the "Online Sports Betting Operator" award.[16] Bet365 Partners also won the "Affiliate Program" award.

Controversies

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.[17]

In 2016, Bet365 were fined $2.75 million AUD for misleading advertisements which falsely promised "free bets" to customers.[18]

Denise Coates became the highest paid executive in the UK in 2017, awarding herself a salary of £217m.[19] In 2018, her pay packet rose to £265m as the company reported profits up 31% to £660m, prompting criticism from problem gambling charity groups.[20] In January 2019, 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.[21]

Further criticism highlights repeated cases of Bet365 delaying or outright 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 2017.[22] The company refused a payout of £54,000 to a punter in England in 2016, a case which is still ongoing as of 2017.[23][24] In Australia, Bet365 froze the account and refused to pay a punter who had won around $200,000 AUD in 2016.[25] 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.[26][27]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Bet365 Group Limited by Company Check UK". Retrieved 16 December 2019.
  2. ^ a b "bet365 - History".
  3. ^ Bekmagambetova, Dinara. "Bet365 boss takes home £323 million after bumper pay rise". MarketWatch. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  4. ^ "ASA Adjudication on Hillside (New Media) Ltd". Archived from the original on 12 August 2016. Retrieved 24 April 2016.
  5. ^ "bet365 affiliates terms and conditions". Archived from the original on 22 August 2012. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
  6. ^ "A Very Private Practice". Archived from the original on 6 April 2012. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
  7. ^ "bet365 put their shirts on Stoke City". The Sentinel. Archived from the original on 18 June 2013. Retrieved 8 May 2012.
  8. ^ "Stoke City's Britannia Stadium to be known as bet365 Stadium next season". The Guardian. 21 April 2016. Archived from the original on 4 June 2016. Retrieved 24 May 2016.
  9. ^ "bet365 is the new general sponsor of Ludogorets". 23 June 2016. Retrieved 31 July 2016.[failed verification]
  10. ^ "bet365 wins EGR Operator of the Year award". Archived from the original on 27 November 2010. Retrieved 29 November 2010.
  11. ^ "Sunday Times Fast Track". Archived from the original on 31 March 2012. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
  12. ^ "Exclusive: bet365 claims Power 50 crown for third year running". Archived from the original on 12 October 2013. Retrieved 18 December 2012.
  13. ^ "Denise Coates is among those named in New Year Honours". BBC News. 31 December 2011. Archived from the original on 13 January 2012. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  14. ^ "Denise Coates CBE". BBC. Archived from the original on 19 February 2013. Retrieved 7 May 2013.
  15. ^ "Global Gaming Awards Las Vegas 2018 winners revealed". Gambling Insider. 8 October 2018. Retrieved 29 June 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  16. ^ "Revealed: The winners of the Global Gaming Awards London 2021". Gambling Insider. 28 June 2021. Retrieved 29 June 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  17. ^ "Revealed: how Bet365 profits from Chinese punters who risk jail for gambling online". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 31 May 2016. Retrieved 2 June 2016.
  18. ^ "Court imposes $2.75 million in penalties on bet365 companies for misrepresenting free bet offer". Australian Competition & Consumer Commission. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
  19. ^ "Bet365 chief Denise Coates paid herself £217m last year". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 26 November 2017. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
  20. ^ Chapman, Ben (21 November 2018). "Bet365 boss Denise Coates' pay rises to 'eye-watering' £265m". The Independent. Archived from the original on 6 January 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  21. ^ "UK's 'highest taxpayers' revealed". BBC.com. 27 January 2019. Archived from the original on 27 January 2019. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
  22. ^ "Exclusive: Teenager takes bet365 to court over £1m 'won' on horse races". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 3 December 2017. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
  23. ^ "Bet365 faces legal action over delay in paying winning punter £54,000". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 29 September 2017. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
  24. ^ "Bookmaker bet365 admits mistake in wrangle over £54,000 account". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
  25. ^ "Punter owed six-figure payout has account frozen after dog plunge". The Australian. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
  26. ^ "Bet365 Account Locked for 5 Months (ref. ACSTA)". TwoPlusTwo. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  27. ^ "Bet365 requests strange verification way. Is it secure and do they have such right?". SporsBookReview. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
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