Ladbrokes lost £43.2 million

It seems the bookies don't always come out on top.

Ladbrokes, one of the biggest High Street bookmakers in Britain, made a pre-tax loss of £43.2 million last year, according to preliminary accounts released on Tuesday. That's down from a £37.7 million profit the year before.

But the loss was down to restructuring costs and other exceptional items that totalled £99 million - not getting their odds wrong and paying out to punters.

Ladbrokes is in the process of merging with Coral and that has cost £17.3 million so far. Closing underperforming shops also cost it £19.8 million.

Ladbrokes is also trying to reposition itself to win over more "recreational" gamblers. It's doing this by investing heavily in digital products and marketing. That effort seems to be working, with digital revenue growing by 12.9% in the year, compared to growth of just 2% in Ladbrokes' stores.

Overall revenue rose 3.2% to £1.19 billion. CEO Jim Mullen says in Tuesday's statement:

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