Sportingbet rakes in £1bn

Online bookie and gaming firm sportingbet has pushed turnover beyond the £1bn mark and boosted pre-tax profit more than fivefold to £9.2m.

The company now has more than a million registered customers and is taking the equivalent of eight bets per second. It is bringing in new products, such as horseracing and poker, and has expanded in Europe and Australia.

Nick Payne, sportingbet CEO, said: "The era of the one-dimensional sports betting website has almost come to an end."

The company faces some regulatory hurdles, with Denmark and Holland in dispute with the EU over jurisdiction on online gaming and US attempts to outlaw online betting and gaming.

But the US bill is stuck in Congress and Washington State is planning to legalise online betting on horse racing. The World Trade Organisation has ruled that Antigua should be able to take online bets from US citizens.

One online punter with William Hill was "jubilant and surprised" at scooping £436,220 with a £3 stake on the 'Millionaires Club' slot game.

A William Hill spokeswoman said: "This is the biggest online game win we've ever heard of, so as well as winning himself a pretty packet, our client has gone into the record books too."