Denise Coates the founder and chief executive of Bet365 has been recognised in the New Yeah Honours list. She has received a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) accolade for services to the community and business.

Denise is the daughter of the chairman Stoke City Football Club, Peter Coates and veteran betting man. She founder the betting company in Stoke-on-Trent with a handful of people from a temporary site in 2000. 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 RBSThe company now employs more than 1,700 people, making it one of the bigger companies in the industry and the largest private employer in the area.

The company which has invested significantly in the mobile and internet gaming sectors reported profits of £93.7 million and a turnover of £439 million recently. Denise holds just over 50% of the shares in the company.