Private bookmakers are keen to get their hands on the Tote

Half-year profits at the Tote - created by Winston Churchill in 1928 to promote sport - jumped 39% to �9.2m ($16m).

Reports suggest that the pooled betting service could be sold to a horse racing trust, with some of the profits being pumped back into the sport.

Private bookmakers, including William Hill and Ladbrokes, are also said to be keen to join the race for the business.

Bookies eye bid

The sale of the Tote is expected to raise more than �75m for government.

Chairman Peter Jones said he supported the creation of a trust to run the business as long as it did not interfere with market forces.

But he accused some private firms of trying to disrupt government plans to sell the Tote to a trust.

"What the other bookmakers have tried to do is bid up the figure and put it out of the reach of the Tote," he told the Daily Telegraph.