SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
The future of Bet365 is being weighed-up by the Coates family, triggering a new round of M&A speculation for the global gambling sector.
Reported by The Guardian this morning, Denise Coates, CEO of Bet365 “has held talks with Wall Street banks and US advisers in recent weeks about a full or partial sale, sources familiar with the matter said.”
Discussions were described as “informal”, as Bet365 will likely review a full range of options put to leadership, including a sale to a private equity fund, a listing on a US stock exchange, or a spin-off of its assets.
The article cites that Bet365 is in a “beauty parade”, as banks will pitch to present the Coates family with the maximum value to extract from a potential sale.
Options to acquire or list Bet365 prices the majority-owned family business at a valuation of £9bn – netting Denise Coates “more than £5bn, based on her 58% stake.”
Bet365 replied to the article, stating to SBC that it never comments on any speculation related to its business.
Since 2020, Bet365 has moved to expand its business in the US, where it currently operates in 13 wagering states.
Leadership recently terminated Bet365 activities in China and transferred ownership of Stoke City FC to Denise’s brother John, making moves likely aimed at appealing to institutional investors in the US.
Industry insights as to why the Coates family would pursue a sale of the hyper successful business were offered by gambling advisors Regulus Partners and Eilers & Krejcik Gaming (EKG).
Paul Leyland, Director at Regulus Partners, stated that a sale in the US is “compelling for everybody,” providing an exit opportunity for Denise Coates and a rare, scalable investment for cash-rich US investors in a market with more capital than high-quality gambling assets.
Alun Bowden, Senior Analyst at Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, noted that Bet365’s modest 2.5% market share in US sports betting belies its potential.
Bowden detailed that Bet365 will likely need significant additional funding to aggressively grow in the US and online casino sectors, adding that “now feels a very good time to explore exit opportunities.”
The Coates family may exploit the firm’s peak valuation at “Consensus that they are a fading star” – due to increased costs controls and competitions across all gambling markets.
Deal-or-no-deal, Bet365 stands as a transformative venture for British business. From its modest beginnings in a portakabin in Stoke-on-Trent, Denise Coates built a tech-driven global leader in online betting, pioneering a model that challenged industry’s heritage incumbents and reshaped gambling for modern audiences.
A potential sale to US investors would mark the end of an era for UK gambling, as many view Bet365’s and the Coates family’s legacy as perhaps the biggest success story, beyond online gambling, impacting modern British tech and digital commerce.
