Profits — excluding bets placed by “high rollers” — climbed 13 per cent in the four months to April 30, with gross wins up 16 per cent, or 34 per cent including high rollers.

Profit from big spenders was £40million but they have made smaller  bets recently.

Ladbrokes’ 2,200 betting shops across Britain saw particularly strong growth in football bets, driven by the firm’s first TV advertising campaign featuring former players.

Gross wins from game machines were up 26 per cent.

There was a small fall in horseracing gross wins; most events were positiveexcept for the Grand Nat­ional where joint favour­ite Com­ply Or Die ­triumphed.

“We are not recession-proof but we are ‘recession robust’,” said chief executive Chris Bell.

Analysts said Ladbrokes’ performance compared well with rival William Hill, which reported a 5 per cent rise in gross win for the first four months of its financial year.

The shares rose 5p to 315p.