Strewth! Bookies to pull plug on Aussie arm

WILLIAM Hill could sell its Australian business following a gambling crackdown Down Under. The bookmaker has launched a strategic review of its operations after authorities banned betting on credit and announced a tax increase.

Australians gamble more per head than any other nationality and the possible sale of its division in the country overshadowed a bullish trading update in which profits for 2017 rose by 11pc to around £290m – better than expected.

The bookie benefited from ten nil-nil draws in the Premier League in December. So-called bore draws may be dull for fans but they are good for bookies because punters tend to bet on goals and wins.

Horse racing results also favoured bookies as outsider Beer Goggles beat well-fancied Thistlecrack at Newbury and Politologue beat odds-on favourite Fox Norton at Sandown.

With the football World Cup kicking- off in Russia in June, triggering a flurry of hopeful but potentially doomed bets on England, chief executive Philip Bowcock said: ‘ We are excited about the opportunities ahead.’