According to its accounts for the 78 weeks ending 28 September 2014, Betfred Group generated earnings before interest tax, depreciation and amortisation and operating exceptional costs (EBITDA) of £101.9m.

The equivalent figure was £69.2m for the previous 53-week period ending 31 March 2013.

The group also reported a gross turnover of £13.3bn for 2013/14, of which approximately £12.4bn came from continuing operations and £0.9bn came from acquisitions. The gross figure for 2012/13 was £8bn.

And the group said that it contributed £158.7m to the Exchequer during the period compared with £89.6m in the prior period.

John Haddock, chief executive of the Betfred Group, said: "Although we have faced increased taxation, regulation and a very competitive market place we are delighted to report a positive set of results.

"We are pleased to continue our support for racing and once again we have over delivered on our promise to the government when we acquired The Tote and delivered £19.1m in direct contributions.

"This together with our levy payments equates to a total payment to racing of £37.7m in the 18-month period and we are proud to continue to be one of racing's biggest sponsors.

"Our estate of just under 1,400 betting shops continues to perform well and there's been major improvement in our online and mobile offerings. Totepool continues to grow and in this period we had a record breaking Scoop6.

"We have a clear message across the Betfred Group to all our customers to keep gambling fun and gamble responsibly."

In January 2014, Betfred completed the acquisition of 100 per cent of Petfre (Gibraltar) to bring all of the entities trading under the Betfred, Totepool, Totesport and Betfred.com trademarks into the same group in a share-for-share transaction.

The directors added: "In the UK retail space, the group has faced challenge from stiff competition due to the full period impact of Machine Gaming Duty but has maintained broadly consistent overall shop numbers and continues to maintain significant market share from this area.

"In the Tote business, benefit has been gained from more focused advertising, a reduced number of race abandonments and significant volume increases. The Tote Digital business continues to decline and the management team have plans in place to turn this business around in the 2015 financial year.

"In addition to the above, the group has abandoned the plans to develop an online business in Australia, which has resulted in a £3m impact on profits for the year."

Betfred was founded in 1967 as a single betting shop in Salford by brothers Fred (pictured) and Peter Done. It acquired The Tote in 2011.