Bet 364 casino

British gambling company

Type of site	Private
Founded
Headquarters	Stoke-on-Trent , England
Owner	Coates Family
Key&#;people
Industry	Gambling
Products	Sports betting, online casino, online poker, online bingo
URL	betcom

Bet is a British gambling company founded in 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]

Bet is an online gambling company offering sports betting and casino type games.

In addition to the company headquarters in Stoke-on-Trent, Bet have further offices in Manchester, Gibraltar,^[1]Malta,^[2]Bulgaria, Armenia and Australia. The group employed over 4, people as of ^[3][4]

Bet is a trading name of Hillside (New Media) Ltd.^[5] and operations.

History[edit]

Bet was founded in 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 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 and had been run by Denise Coates as managing director from Bet sold its betting shop chain in for £40 million to Coral and paid off its loan to RBS.^[6]

Bet chairman Peter Coates was also the chairman at Stoke City and in May Bet signed a three-year contract with the club to become shirt sponsors.^[7] In April , 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 , Bet also signed shirt sponsorship deals with Bulgarian clubs Ludogorets Razgrad and Slavia Sofia for the upcoming two seasons.^{[9][failed verification]}

Bet's reported figures (March ) showed revenues of £ billion and a profit of £ million before tax.^[10]

Denise Coates, joint chief executive, continues to run Bet and is the majority shareholder with % 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 , the largest UK bookmakers and online casino operators William Hill, GVC Holdings, Flutter Entertainment, Stars Group and Bet entered into an agreement to transfer funds to combat gambling addiction. They agreed to increase the amount from % 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 , shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on sports betting allowed U.S. states to regulate sports betting, Bet 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 that Bet will launch in Colorado with a licensing and revenue share deal with Century Casinos. Bet opened up operations in Colorado on 6 September ^[13][14]

In April , Bet 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 organised by eGaming Review magazine, Bet won the "Operator of the Year" award.^[16] Bet ranked third in The Sunday Times Profit Track league table, which ranks private companies in the UK based on profit growth rate.^[17] Bet was also ranked as one of the fastest growing privately owned technology, media and telecoms companies in The Sunday TimesTech Track league table.

eGaming Review magazine has ranked Bet the number one Internet gaming company in , and 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 Bet, received a CBE in the Queen's new year honours list for services to the community and business.^[19] In February Denise Coates was named as one of the most powerful women in the United Kingdom by Woman's Hour at BBC Radio 4.^[20]

In December , Bet won the coveted SBCBookmaker of the Year for the third consecutive year.

Controversies[edit]

Regulatory Non-Compliance[edit]

In October , 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 , Bet was fined $ million AUD by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission for misleading advertisements which falsely promised "free bets" to customers.^[22]

Although gambling is illegal in most jurisdictions of India, Bet 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 Bet and other betting platforms immediately.^[23]

In March , Australia's financial crime agency, Austrac, initiated an investigation into Bet for potential non-compliance with anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws, following an ordered external audit in ^[24]

Fiduciary Duty[edit]

Denise Coates became the highest paid executive in the UK in , awarding herself a salary of £ million.^[25] In , her pay packet rose to £m as the company reported profits up 31% to £ million, prompting criticism from problem gambling charity groups.^[26] In January , Bet 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 £ million, of which £99 million was paid by Denise alone.^[27] Denise was again criticised in , after she received payouts of more than £ million the year before, including a salary of £ million and dividends of £50 million, despite the company posting a £60 million loss.^[28]

Refusal to Pay[edit]

Further criticism highlights repeated cases of Bet delaying or denying payment to winning players. For example, Bet was taken to court for refusing to pay over £1&#;million in winnings to a horse bettor in Northern Ireland in ^[29] The company refused a payout of £54, to a customer in England in , a case which was still ongoing in ^[30][31] In Australia, Bet froze the account of a punter who had won around $, AUD in , refusing to pay out.^[32] These are just some of the most noteworthy instances; several more cases of Bet refusing to pay winnings have been reported by gamblers on Internet gambling forums.^[33][34]

Media[edit]

In the UK, the face of Bet, since , has been actor Ray Winstone.^[35] The company sponsors the shirt and stadium of EFL Championship football club Stoke City F.C., a corporate affiliate.

References[edit]

External links[edit]