One of the biggest bookmakers and casino operators in the world, William Hill has announced that are on schedule for the forecast of the end-year results after the “best results ever” for the World Cup Soccer lifted the poor horse-racing results.

The provider of online gambling and sportsbetting lost out at the Grand National and Royal Ascot race tracks, but thanks to a record number of bets on the World Cup, half year sales rose 1% to £135.6 million. The bookmaker said they made £32.2 million gross profit on the football tournament, £19,3 million of which came in the first half of the year. Spain’s victory generated a profitable period for bookmakers after the European champions were beaten by Switzerland, which deters many gamblers.

The bookmaker also had many benefits thanks to patriotic English punters betting for the under performing English team, the loss of Brazil in the quarter-finals against Holland and the defeat of the 2006 World Cup finalists France and Italy in the group stage. In the seven weeks after the World Cup, the net revenue from William Hill went up by 26% and net income of its betting shops rose by 20% through the wake of the World and strong sales of casino gambling devices. Analysts expects the casino gambling group will have a final year result of around £258 million.

William Hill itself was more cautious with forecasts for 2010 and 2011. Ralph Topping, CEO of William Hill said: “We are on track to deliver against the board’s expectations for the full year, but we remain cautious moving into 2011 given the ongoing consumer uncertainty.”