The huge British bookmaker Ladbrokes have just reported that their profits have experienced a large decrease of 66%, with a annual result of £67 million for 2013. The betting giant has been tackled by tax changes on gaming machines as well as higher costs on showing horse racing.

CEO of Ladbrokes, Richard Glynn, made the following comment:

“While our financial results for 2013 were disappointing, we made real operational progress which has continued into this year.  We remain confident about the direction of the business and the momentum we are creating.

As we have made clear, H1 is about delivery and H2 is about growth.  Our immediate focus is on the completion of our remaining platform, product and capability upgrades, notably single wallet and CRM, which will begin to deliver tangible benefits from the World Cup onwards.”

Ladbrokes has seen a large growth in revenues through their mobile platform as is hoping to increase the number of customers betting directly from their mobile. High street betting is still a major income for Ladbrokes, but does cause some problems on a regular basis. Ladbrokes will be closing 40-50 betting shops due to the profits report and due to regulatory issues with high street betting.