Peter Coates was born in Goldenhill, Stoke-on-Trent, the youngest of 14 children. His father was a miner who had a keen interest in football, and they regularly attended Stoke City's Victoria Ground. Coates left school at age fourteen to work in an office. He served in the Parachute Regiment for his National Service. Out of the army he rose to become a regional manager at Wimpy restaurants, before founding Stadia Catering – a catering firm specialising in servicing football grounds. His company merged with Lindley Catering, and he was the company's chair from 1968 to 2001. He also founded Signal 1 in 1983.
Bet365
was founded in 2000 in a portakabin in Stoke-on-Trent by the Coates family, led by Coates's daughter Denise. Denise Coates 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. Bet365 sold its betting shop chain in 2005 for £40 million and paid off its loan to RBS. Bet365's reported figures to March 2010 showed amounts wagered on sports at £5.4 billion, revenues of £358 million, and an operating profit of £104 million. Peter Coates holds the position of chairman of Bet365. Denise Coates, joint chief executive, continues to run Bet365 with her brother, John.
In 1989, Peter Coates became majority shareholder at Stoke City. He was chairman of Stoke City until 1997 before stepping down. During this period the club were relegated to the old Football League Third Division, were promoted from the now renamed Second Division to the First Division and moved to the Britannia Stadium. In 1990 the Stoke City board consisted of six directors and it was agreed that a new share issue was needed, with the majority wanting the supporters to be free to purchase. Following disagreements regarding this share issue, several board members left and the board then consisted of Peter Coates, Keith Humphreys and David Edwards. In 1997, following poor on pitch performances, he was the subject of protests by the club's fans and subsequently stepped down. He remained a majority shareholder, whilst Keith Humphreys was appointed chairman. In 1999, a group of Icelandic businessmen formed a consortium to buy the football club. The consortium Stoke Holding SA paid around £3.5 million. The deal was completed on 15 November 1999.
Second period (2005–present)
In 2005, Stoke Holding discussed the possibility of selling the club back to Peter Coates. The consortium had planned to get to the club into the Premiership within the first five years, but the financial implications had proved more challenging than they anticipated. At this time Tony Pulis who had become friends with Peter Coates was given a new contract and then sacked four weeks later. A new manager, Johan Boskamp, was appointed. He remained at the club for one season and then left. At the end of the 2005–06 season Stoke Holding and Peter Coates once again started discussions regarding the sale of the club to the latter. On 23 May 2006, the Coates family through a Bet365 subsidiary company completed the purchase of Stoke City F.C. for £1.7 million. A further £3.3 million was paid to have the Icelandic debts cancelled. Shortly afterwards, Tony Pulis was reappointed. The golden shares were also removed. At the end of the 2007–08 season Stoke finished Second in the Championship gaining automatic promotion to the Premier League.
