PUNTERS gambling on the football World Cup helped bookmaker William Hill score a 26 per cent boost in underlying profits.

The tournament in Japan and South Korea last summer brought in £13m of "gross wins" for the high street bookies.

David Harding, chief executive, said the event had further stimulated betting activity and enabled the company to recruit new customers.

The London group made record profits last year, posting underlying profits of £141.4m for the year to December 31.

Changes in UK betting rules in 2001 - in which bookmakers' gross profit rather than customers' stakes is taxed - also boosted the company which floated on the London Stock Exchange in June.

Mr Harding said: "From the day of the introduction of the new tax there has been clear evidence of customers recycling the money saved on deductions into more and bigger bets."

Mr Harding said it was hard to quantify how much the £13m gross wins from the World Cup was money which would have come in otherwise, but estimated that at least £5m was purely from the event.

The company said the current year had started strongly with gross wins up 20 per cent in the nine weeks to March 4, compared with the same period last year.