British betting group Ladbrokes says it earned £17.5m from the recent World Cup in Germany.
The company, formerly Hilton Group, added that it tripled net profit during the first half of this year, mainly due to the disposal of its hotels business Hilton International.
Ladbrokes also said profits at its 165 Irish shops more than doubled to £6.9m (€10.2m), boosted by tax free betting and favourable horse racing results.
Ladbrokes also revealed that it has signed a joint venture agreement with Italian betting company Pianeta Scommesse, which will establish Ladbrokes as a government-accredited provider of betting shop services in Italy.
'As expected, the World Cup turned out to be the biggest betting event in our history, and gave a major boost to Ladbrokes customer base, with over 220,000 new eGaming and telephone customers in the first six months of 2006,' the company said.
Ladbrokes' net profit surged to £517.5m during the first six months of 2006, compared with £159.5m during the same period in 2005. It made a profit of .£378.8m from the sale of Hilton International.
Ladbrokes' operating profit from continuing operations for the six months to June 30 increased by 12.3% to £151.3m, slightly ahead of expectations.
Ladbrokes said it planned to invest about €100m to develop retail, internet and telephone betting services in Italy over the next five years.
