Chelsea give Ladbrokes the Blues
Bookmaker Ladbrokes felt the blues today after it emerged Chelsea’s recent success had given punters one of the best starts to a season in years.
Ladbrokes owner Hilton said the 100% record of the London team in Europe, coupled with victories for a number of other top teams, had “adversely affected” its gross win – the amount left behind by unsuccessful gamblers at its 2,000 shops.
Hilton shares fell by almost 3% as the update from its betting and gaming division offset further signs of recovery at the company’s hotels arm.
A spokeswoman for Hilton said the positive run of results for gamblers was shown earlier this month when the fancied team won 13 out of 16 UEFA Cup games.
As well as winning all four Champions League matches, Chelsea have also taken maximum points from 10 out of their 13 Premiership matches this season.
She said visitors to bookmakers were enjoying one of the “best starts to a football season for many years”.
As a result, Ladbrokes expects its over-the-counter gross win to slow to 7% for the whole of this year, from 14% in the first half when results surprised at the Cheltenham Festival and Euro 2004.
Hilton also said the average amount taken by its betting machines had levelled out at £550 (€783.70) per week, mainly because the recent rapid expansion of in-shop terminals had now come to an end. Both telephone betting and online profitability doubled over the period, it added.
The company said the betting and gaming division continued to grow profits and contributed to overall growth of 19% in the four months to the end of October.
At the hotels arm, revenues per available room remained in positive territory following a global improvement of 2.3% in October. That included a gain of 4.2% for London properties, although there was a 1.4% decline in the UK provinces.
Hilton chief executive David Michels said the performance of the hotels continued to offer encouragement but stuck by previous comments that it was too early for the company to celebrate a full recovery.
He added: “In betting it was inevitable some of the results would go against us after a record first half. We have more customers in both businesses and I therefore remain confident about the company going forward.”
In August, Hilton said half-year profits improved 72% to £189.7m (€270.3m) with the figure from the 400-strong hotels estate ahead almost 20% at £67.1m (€95.6m).
