Bad news for the punters means good news for William Hill

The firm said its gross win was up 22% in the 19 weeks to 11 May compared with a year ago, as horse racing results went in its favour.

Average weekly profit from each of its fixed-odds betting terminals was also up to �400, from �380 during 2003.

William Hill owns nearly 1,600 branches in the UK and also offers betting via telephone and the internet.

The company floated on the London stock market in June 2002 and last month entered the FTSE 100 share index of leading UK firms.