Britain's second-biggest betting shop chain, William Hill, has reported a strong rise in first-half profits, but said horse racing results had gone against it since then, knocking its shares.
"Out of eight weeks, there have been six where the results have been very much to form and so margins have been below what we would normally expect over the long term," chief executive Mr David Harding said.
In early trading today, the firm's shares were 6.03 per cent lower at 257 pence, valuing it at about £1.1 billion sterling.
William Hill, which has 1,577 betting shops and also offers telephone and online gambling, has been one of the few success stories in the UK market for initial public offerings this year, consistently trading above its June 17th debut price of 225p.
As strong generators of cash, betting firms are normally viewed as defensive plays in times of economic uncertainty. They are currently enjoying an extra boost from the abolition of UK betting duty last October and a raft of other measures to deregulate gaming laws.
Operating profit before exceptional items jumped 35 per cent to £78.3 million in the 26 weeks to July 2nd, boosted by strong horse racing results in the first quarter and soccer's World Cup in the second quarter.
Turnover was up 47 per cent to £1.59 billion as customers spent most of the money they saved on betting duty.