POOR RESULTS from the Cheltenham jump racing festival and other sports dented returns in Paddy Power’s Irish betting shops, but the group as a whole has continued to grow this year.

The quoted bookmaker told shareholders at its annual general meeting in Dublin yesterday that returns from punters’ bets have increased 21 per cent so far this year, while the amounts actually staked were up 14 per cent.

Chairman Nigel Northridge said the strong momentum in 2010 had continued this year, with revenues at Paddypower.com increasing 33 per cent, while retail revenues were up 7 per cent.

The amount won from punters in its Irish betting shops fell 10 per cent. Chief executive Patrick Kennedy said after the meeting that this was on the back of results that favoured its customers rather than the bookmaker. Mr Kennedy said this year’s Cheltenham festival, a key event for Irish and British bookmakers, was one of the worst ever. “We had three losing days out of four.”

However, he said its Irish shops are continuing to perform well in the face of the recession, and said average turnover per shop is twice that of the opposition.

Its overall gross win percentage – the difference between the amounts staked by clients and the amounts returned to them in winnings – was in line with last year, as its online business offset the “adverse” results from the shops.

Within the online unit, mobile stakes surged 298 per cent. About 34 per cent of active customers placed bets using mobile phones.

In Australia, growth slowed compared to last year, although the group said it was expecting more positive results later in the year. The company bought out Australian bookmaker Sportsbet earlier this year.

Mr Kennedy warned against a recent suggestion by Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney that betting tax should be doubled to 2 per cent and be applied to online businesses.

The money raised from the tax is meant to match State funding for horse racing, but Mr Kennedy said this was just a “fig leaf” to disguise the fact that the Government gives €50 million to the sport directly.