Online betting exchange Betfair said its annual revenues went up 30% to £182m after it benefited from 'significant' investment in technology and new products.
There was a 26% rise in underlying earnings to £48m, but an investment of £22m in research and development contributed to a fall in pre-tax profits to £25.3m in the year to April 30, from £36.5m the previous year.
The introduction of an online casino, the FIFA World Cup in 2006, the relaunch of Betfair Poker and improved marketing helped to attract more users to the company's website.
Betfair said today that the number of registered customers is now more than one million, with active users up to 443,300 at the end of April, up 57% on a year earlier.
CEO David Yu said :'It has been a very exciting year during which significant steps have been taken towards transforming Betfair from a mainly Uk-based betting exchange to the world's leading legal e-gaming site.
The UK company is an exchange that allows people to bet against each other on racing and other sports online.
Its clients can bet against or 'lay' horses in the same way as bookmakers, or bet on them in the conventional fashion.
