Peter Coates was born on 13 January 1938 and is an English businessman, the co-founder of bet365, and the chairman of Stoke City Football Club.
19 Facts About Peter Coates
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Peter Coates has been listed as the 25th-richest person in British football.
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Peter Coates founded Stadia Catering in the 1960s and Signal Radio in 1983.
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Peter Coates was born in Goldenhill, Stoke-on-Trent, the youngest of 14 children.
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Peter Coates was brought up by his sister, Irene, after his mother died when he was two.
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Peter Coates's father, Leonard was a miner and World War I veteran who had a keen interest in football, where they regularly attended Stoke City's Victoria Ground.
7.
Peter Coates stopped playing football at the age of 23.
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Peter Coates left school at age fourteen to work in an office to help his family make ends meet.
9.
Peter Coates used the increase in revenue to purchase a chain of betting shops that he dubbed Provincial Racing.
10.
Peter Coates founded the local radio station Signal 1 in 1983.
11.
Bet365 was founded in 2000 in a portakabin in Stoke-on-Trent by the Peter Coates family, led by his daughter Denise.
12.
Denise Peter Coates developed a sports betting platform and trading team to launch the business online in March 2001.
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In 1986, Peter Coates became majority shareholder at Stoke City and was appointed chairman in September 1986 taking over from Sandy Clubb.
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Peter Coates brought in a large number of foreign players and ultimately only managed a mid-table finish and the owners left at the end of the season.
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Peter Coates sacked Hughes soon after and replaced him with Paul Lambert who was unable to keep Stoke in the Premier League.
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In September 2020 his son John Peter Coates was appointed as joint-chairman.
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Peter Coates has been a significant Labour Party donor, although he did not donate to the party while Jeremy Corbyn was leader.
18.
Peter Coates' father, Leonard was a miner and fought in World War I with the York and Lancaster Regiment where he was awarded a Military Medal.
19.
Peter Coates was awarded honorary degrees from Staffordshire University in 2008, and Keele University in 2011.