Peter Coates has been awarded an honorary degree for his “enormous contribution” to North Staffordshire. Peter Coates is the Stoke City Football Club chairman as well as the owner of online gambling giant, bet365.
Peter, now aged 73, will be presented with the honorary degree at Keele University in July 2011. The honorary degree title is ‘Doctor of the University’ and this is the second honorary degree he is being given after receiving the same degree by Staffordshire University 3 years ago.
Peter Coates left school at the tender age of 15 with no qualifications whatsoever. Since then, he runs the United Kingdom’s 7th largest private company (bet365) as well as owning Stoke City football club which are a Premiership side and reached this year’s FA Cup final.
bet365 was founded in 1974 and went online in 1999. Owned by Peter and Denise Coates, the bet365 group employs nearly 1,500 people and has over 5 million customers from over 200 countries. bet365 are known for being one of best online gambling companies in the world and won the coveted ‘Operator of the Year’ award at the eGaming Review Operator Awards in 2010.
Speaking about the honorary degree from Keele University, Peter said:
“I’m very grateful to Keele and proud of getting the honorary degree. I’ve always been supportive of the university, because I think it’s important for North Staffordshire. It is one of our success stories.”
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