Once the deal was closed, she noticed a great potential in the online gambling business as the dot-com boom has just started. Thus, she urged her family to invest in that direction. In 2000 Denise Coates bought the domain Bet365.com and she managed to launch the website not a full year later, in March 2001, after being shunned by traditional venture capitalists. Now, she shares the CEO position with her brother John and is the single largest shareholder in the company with a 50.3% stake. Bet365, whose sales reached $1.6 billion last year, also owns British Premier League team Stoke City.