The Paddy Power betting group showed excellent half year results for the six months ended 30 June the company reported an operating profit growth of 108pc to €40.8m and was very pleased with its Cheltenham betting in shops due to the new epos system, even though there were some online problems on one of the days of the festival. The company reported revenues of €143.7m, up considerably from the €104.9m reported in the same period last year.

Paddy Power chief executive Patrick Kennedy was reported to be very pleased with operating profits at its online channel which increased by 53pc or €5.1m in the first half of 2007.

Chief Executive Patrick Kennedy was very encouraged with the online results as “Customer numbers in the online channel continued to grow strongly with an 18pc increase at the end of the half year relative to June 2006, despite slower growth in sports book customers without the World Cup,” Kennedy explained.

“Online competition remains intense but we are confident that our brand, product range and top class customer service, as well as our continuous drive to increase our marketing efficiency, means we are well positioned for growth.”

Kennedy said that the aim is to continue to invest in people and technology to optimise customer acquisition and retention.

“For example, we added our newly developed affiliate management system to paddypower.com during the period, automating the process for other web site operators to promote our products on their websites.

“This year’s Cheltenham Festival and Grand National were the first for many shops with EPOS and we were pleased with the improvement in customer service from speedier bet placement and collection, including the benefit of EPOS readable ‘mark sense’ dockets for shop coupons and press promotions,” Kennedy explained.

“We are also extracting more benefits by continuously refining and acting upon information from the system for operational management, marketing, risk and security,” he added.