bet365 Owner Rises Up Sunday Times Rich List

Denise Coates and her family are reportedly worth £9.45 billion ($12.60 billion).

Ziv Chen - News Editor at Covers.com
Ziv Chen • News Editor
May 16, 2025 • 11:49 ET • 4 min read
Photo By - SIPA. Undated handout photo issued by Bet 365 of their joint Chief Executive Denise Coates. (Photo by PA Images/Sipa USA)

Denise Coates, founder of UK-based betting company bet365, and her family have risen four places on the Sunday Times Rich List, which ranks the 1,000 wealthiest people in the U.K.

Key Takeaways 

  • Coates and her family worth £9.45 billion ($12.60 billion) 
  • Denise Coates founded bet365 in 2001
  • Reports suggest bet365 could be sold

Denise Coates, the U.K.’s richest woman, launched bet365 in 2001, borrowing £15 million ($19.9 million) against the family-run retail betting estate. According to the Sunday Times, she, her father Peter, and her brother John are worth £9.45 billion ($12.60 billion), earning them 16th in the rankings, up from last year’s position of 20th. 

Gambling execs showcase rising fortunes on Rich List

According to the rankings, the Coates were not the only betting industry figures to enjoy rising fortunes over the last year. 

The founder of poker brand PokerStars, Mark Scheinberg, rose from 41st to 28th on the list, with a wealth of £5.08 billion ($6.75 billion). The founders of sports betting company Betfred, Fred and Peter Done, were up from 76th to 58th, thanks to their £2.92 billion ($3.88 billion) fortune. 

Other notable betting industry entrepreneurs featured were Michael Tabor, the owner of the BetVictor brand; Ruth Parasol, the founder of the PartyGaming iGaming brand; and Tony Bloom, the owner of Brighton and Hove Albion soccer club, who founded the StarLizard betting consultancy. 

Meanwhile, Richard and Ian Livingstone, who have a stake in iGaming company Evolution, fell from 28th to 34th this year, with a combined wealth of £5.73 billion ($7.61 billion).  

Potential sale rumored for bet365

bet365 has also been the subject of persistent rumors this month. A report by the U.K. newspaper, The Guardian, claimed that the company is considering a sale. The report suggested that the sportsbook had discussed the issue with U.S. consultants and Wall Street banks, and that it was considering a range of options, including full or partial sale, or even floating on the U.S. stock exchange. 

Another option reportedly discussed is selling part of bet365 to a private equity company. This would enable the Coates family to keep a stake in the company. 

The discussions appear to have been prompted by a desire to get more heavily involved in the growing U.S. sports betting sector. Reports suggest the company could be valued at as much as $12 billion. 

That would put it some way behind DraftKings, which has been valued at over $17 billion, but in a similar bracket to FanDuel, which is now owned by a former bet365 rival, Flutter. 

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Ziv Chen
News Editor

Ziv has been deep in the iGaming trenches for over 20 years, long before most people could spell "geolocation compliance." With a background in marketing and business development at some of the biggest names in gambling tech, Ziv knows the industry from the inside out. Since joining Covers, he's turned his sharp eye (and sharper keyboard) toward everything happening in the fast-moving world of online gambling. Whether it's new state launches, the latest twists in regulation, or what the big operators and game providers are cooking up next, Ziv breaks it all down with clarity, context, and just the right amount of snark. He covers the business side of betting, from affiliate trends and revenue reports to the tech powering your favorite slots. His motto in writing is “let’s make it make sense without putting you to sleep.”

When he’s not tracking gambling legislation or looking for the next breaking story, Ziv is living and dying with every pitch and play from his beloved Pittsburgh Steelers, Pirates, and Penguins. As a Pitt graduate, it’s a city loyalty forged in heartbreak, but one he wouldn’t trade for anything, except maybe a few more playoff wins.

When away from the keyboard, Ziv loves to hit the road and soak up the energy of casinos. Whether strolling the neon jungle called the Vegas Strip, or wandering into a smoky riverboat casino in the Midwest, Ziv’s in his element. He’s the guy chatting with players, blackjack dealers, and asking pit bosses way too many questions, all in the name of “research,” of course. The casino floor isn’t just his workplace, it’s a weird and wonderful ecosystem of flashing lights, wild characters, and pure sensory overload, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

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