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Online gambling group Sportingbet has reported a 76.2 per cent increase in operating profits from its continuing operations.

In a statement today the company confirmed that its operating profit for its ongoing businesses increased to £7.4 million in the year to July 31st, up from £4.2million a year earlier.

The Paradise Poker owner also reported a 13.3 per cent improvement to its gross margin, another measure of profitability.

However the headline results mask the impact of last year's US law which effectively banned online gambling in America.

Sportingbet's results show that it made a loss of £312.9 million for the year to July, once the performance of its discontinued operations is taken into account. In contrast, the company had reported a post-tax profit of £69.2 million for the previous year.

The profits slump comes after Sportingbet sold its US-facing businesses following the introduction of the unlawful internet gambling enforcement act in October 2006, with the law criminalising online payments for bets.

Sportingbet today insisted that the sale of its US-facing operations had divested the group of over 450 employees, "saving significant potential severance and closure costs".

The company also stressed that it was focusing on the European gaming market, where it had boosted investment in an Italian unit and acquired a Turkish marketing partner.

It confirmed that the number of customers who bet on the region's sports betting websites during the year rose by 14.3 per cent to 436,779 and said that the number of bets they had placed also increased.

Commenting on the results Sportingbet chief executive Andrew McIver said: "Given the enormity of the change and restructuring that has taken place at Sportingbet, I am pleased to report a strong increase in gross win in the continuing business and especially pleased with the growth in our core European sports betting business of 48 per cent."

He added that the company had lost more than 75 per cent of its business following the US legislative changes, thus making the improvement to operating profit reported by the firm a "highly creditable achievement".

Sportingbet insists that as the company moves into the current financial year, trading across the group is "significantly ahead" of that for the previous period.