Ladbrokes boss Richard Glynn has pledged to "reinvigorate" the brand of one of Britain's best-known bookies. Mr Glynn's promise came as the company reported first-half profits of £78.1m. That was down from £114.7m but excluding volatile earnings from high rollers and one-offs, operating profit came in at £97.6m, down from £103.6m last year, when the World Cup boosted earnings. The dividend was up 1.3 per cent at 3.9p.

Greece will yet again be the word this week as traders wait anxiously for some much-needed clarity about the situation. If the austerity package is eventually accepted by the IMF and EU, the market is set to rally as we move closer to resolving the debt problems.

Veteran bookmaker Fred Done secured horseracing's ultimate prize today by agreeing a £265 million deal to buy the Tote from the Government.

A decision over the sale of the Tote is believed to have been delayed as a result of concerns over European state aid laws.

The bookmaker Betfred is talking to racecourse groups over setting up a new Tote racing development board. Betfred is vying with Sports Investment Partners (SIP), headed by British Airway's chairman Sir Martin Broughton, to buy the state-owned betting business.

The best punt of the week could come on Friday when traders are likely to wind down their positions ahead of the long weekend. Going short on the Footsie could yield a decent return, though you need to keep a weather eye on other factors affecting the index.

Outlook Sir Martin Broughton is lining up the ducks as he battles to be allowed to buy the Tote from the Government. Having secured the support of the racing industry ahead of Betfred, his only rival for the Tote, Sir Martin yesterday revealed that his offer is now 100 per cent underwritten by the private equity group Oakley Capital. That answers those who wondered whether he could put his money where his mouth is.

Six parties have made it through to second-round bids for the Tote, the state-owned bookmaker which has been put up for sale.

IG Group, the spread betting company, has been slapped with a €25m (£21m) lawsuit over the collapse of a Scottish wealth manager two years ago.

Sportingbet said the increased popularity of betting on live sporting events helped drive revenues 27 per cent higher in the year to 31 July. The online gaming group said such "in play" gaming accounted for 61 per cent of its core sports betting business in the past year, up from 56 per cent in 2009.

Sportingbet, the online gambling company which sponsors the Premiership's Wolverhampton Wanderers, has agreed to pay $33m (£21m) to avoid charges in the US, where it operated illegally for almost a decade.

'When you go into Tesco, you don't just buy a loaf of bread and a pint of milk, do you?" asks Conor Foley, the chief executive of WorldSpreads, the Alternative Investment Market (Aim)-listed financial spread-betting group. Indeed not. And Mr Foley is hoping that the same philosophy applies to his industry after last week announcing that his group would be offering punters a zero-spreads option on some of its most popular markets.