Bet365 Could Soon be up For Sale

The online gambling world is abuzz with reports the Coates family are in discussions to sell bet365.

According to reports in The Guardian, Denise Coates has been talking to US investment banks over the last couple of weeks about a potential bet365 sale. Talks are preliminary with a range of options being canvassed. But what seems clear, is that the Coates family are now open to relinquishing ownership of the world’s largest private online gambling business.

Options being discussed are an IPO (most likely in the US), a private equity buyout or the pre float sale of a share of the business prior to an eventual IPO.

Either way, the deal is going to make Denise Coates a lot of money. Valued somewhere in the vicinity of £9 billion, bet365 is one of the largest online gambling businesses in the world. If Coates were to offload her entire 58% share in the business she would walk away with around £5 billion.

The company has quietly been working to remove impediments to a sale to US investors over the last year. A major stumbling block was a long held policy of accepting punters from China, which would have been unpalatable to many investors in the US. This policy came to an end earlier this year when bet365 announced they would be exiting the Chinese market.

Less of a stumbling block and more of an unnecessary add-on was the company’s stake in Stoke City FC. This was transferred to John Coates (Denise’s brother) in August 2024.

Bet365’s meteoric rise

Bet365’s journey from a startup run from a portacabin to giant of the online gambling industry is the stuff of legend. Founded by Denise Coates on a shoestring budget in 2000, the company quickly outgrew larger competitors of the day like William Hill and Ladbrokes.

A superior online betting platform, including an industry leading in-play betting capability saw bet365 dominate not only the UK market, but online gambling markets worldwide. In more recent times they have moved aggressively into the US with licenses to accept bets in all 13 states where online sport betting has been legalised.

Their broader online offering, including casino games has always been industry leading. Bet365 live casino was among the first EU market facing live dealer casinos. They were also among the first operators to launch private, branded tables for their players.

But bet365 is no longer the growth juggernaut it was. In their commentary on the bet365’s FY2024 results, industry analysts Regulus Partners noted, “Bet365 has run out of in-play growth and has not yet found a similar growth engine for a world in which in-play betting is a relatively mature commodity. Consequently, Bet365 is losing market share dangerously rapidly.”

Despite this widely accepted view, analysts from Eilers & Krejcik Gaming told the Guardian there will no problem generating interest.

“For decades people have been telling me the one business they wish they could invest in was Bet365, and while there is a bit of an industry consensus that they are a fading star, they remain one of, if not the best, online sports betting business in the world, with huge headroom for growth in casino, the US and many other markets. I don’t think they will have many problems.”