Online gambling operators again on UK rich list

Online gambling industry observers will be taking an interested look at the new Sunday Times Rich List, due for publication this weekend and detailing the richest folks in Britain.

Pre-publication publicity suggests that the Coates family, which owns the popular bet365 internet gambling enterprise, will be among these super-successful people, and is close to becoming Britain’s first gambling billionaires.

According to the Sunday Times, online gamblers lost so much last year that Britain’s top ten internet betting magnates are each worth more than GBP 100 million. Internet betting exchanges, virtual poker tables and web bingo have all proved lucrative, the newspaper notes.

Peter Coates (75) his daughter Denise (45) and son John (43) have an estimated wealth of GBP 925 million just 13 years after they founded bet365, which is thought to be worth more than GBP 800 million.

Denise Coates featured in last year’s Rich List, which reported that she heads a company that saw profits in 2009-10 soar from GBP 66.5 million to almost GBP 101 million on the back of GBP 420 million in sales. Profits were again up in 2010 -2011 to GBP 98.6 million on GBP 501.4 million in sales.

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