Ladbrokes, one of Britain's largest bookmakers, has reported a 28 per cent decrease in its total pre-tax profits for the year ending 31 December after the company saw the amount generated by high rollers slump by more than 50 per cent.

Excluding high rollers, which contributed just £80.1m compared with £179m in 2007, the company revealed that pre-tax profits had actually increased by 0.9 per cent to £243.8m. Ladbrokes also said that the unusually high amount of race meeting abandonments in the first six weeks of 2009 had caused an inevitable effect on the company's UK and Irish operations although overall gross win, excluding high rollers, has increased by 1 per cent.

Chris Bell, Ladbrokes chief executive, said: "Notwithstanding the challenging economic background, Ladbrokes has continued to grow during 2008 with group operating profit, excluding high rollers, up 0.9 per cent – slightly ahead of market expectations. "The prevailing economic conditions are expected to remain challenging throughout 2009 and the board remains vigilant for any signs of impact."