The richest self-made woman in the UK paid herself £217 million in 2016 and is said to have a personal fortune of circa £3.17 billion. A former betting shop cashier, Denise Coates purchased the domain Bet365.com in 2000 and has since grown the operation into one of the world’s largest online gambling companies. A Sheffield University graduate and the daughter of the chairman of Stoke City F.C., this incredibly successful business titan is nicknamed ‘The Patron of the Potteries’ for employing a large number of people in Stoke-on-Trent. She lives surprisingly modestly with her husband and five children in a farmhouse in Cheshire.