The recent explosion in sports betting led to newly floated betinternet.com posting a seven-fold rise in turnover.

In the year to May 31, betinternet.com raked in £11.7 million in wagers from punters either by phone or through its website.

Vincent Caldwell, chairman of the Isle of Man-based company, said plans to diversify away from its horse racing roots had been successful.

But the company said UK residents were not eligible to use the site because of the tax implications of being based on the Isle of Man.

The firm said that it was not unduly troubled about this because, compared with the Far East, the UK market was tiny. However, the company is looking at the possibility of bringing the website's services to domestic gamblers.

From contributing just ten per cent of bets in the previous year, non-racing bets now bring in 60 per cent of betinternet.com's revenue, largely boosted by betting onfootball.

Mr Caldwell said he had been pleased to see turnover increasing to £11.7 million in his company's first set of results since floating on the London Stock Exchange in May.

This compared with £1.54 million for the 17 months to May 31 last year.

But heavy investment in the technological infrastructure and on marketing, meant the company reported increased pre-tax losses, to £1.04 million, against £304,000 last time round.

The massively increased turnover since the end of May was likely to mean the company would turn in a profit soon, said Mr Caldwell.

Betinternet.com expanded rapidly during the year, with punters in 85 countries now being able to have a punt on a range of sports, from golf and gaelic football to rugby and basketball.