Bookmaker plans supercasino bid

Bookmaker Ladbrokes said today that it was planning a bid to run Britain’s first Las Vegas-style supercasino as it unveiled better-than-expected profits for 2006 at £246.5m (€367.6m).

The group reported a 6% rise in pre-tax profits, up from £232.1m (€345.8m) in 2005, and confirmed its interest in the Manchester casino and “several” of the other 16 licences due to be made available by the Government soon.

However, Ladbrokes did not to give an update on a possible takeover deal with online gaming group 888, which it first approached last November.

Chairman of Ladbrokes, Ian Robinson, said only that discussions, while ongoing, were “complex because of the current conditions in the US” and that the group would update the market “when appropriate”.