British bookmaker William Hill posted full-year profits in line with analysts expectations this morning and also ruled out any move for Irish and UK rival Paddy Power.
William Hill's newly installed chief executive, Ralph Topping said "there's nothing in that, I actually don't see any logic in it" when asked about interest in Paddy Power.
William Hill's high-stake gaming machines in its shops helped combat a near 20 per cent drop in Internet profits.
The London-based bookmaker said soccer results had broadly evened themselves over the year although cancellations due to last summer's floods in Britain, hit horse-race betting.
A 15 per cent rise in profits from its 8,400 highly profitable Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBTs) drove a 9 per cent increase in gross win (gain on customers betting) in its betting shops.
The uplift outweighed disappointing profits from its struggling Web site as online operating profits fell by £10.6 million sterling to £50.9 million.
Last week in an interview, British Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe said he was concerned that FOBTs, which account for around a third of William Hill's profits, were fuelling gambling addiction and revealed he would ask Britain's gambling watchdog to take a closer look at them.
Mr Topping shrugged off worries that the government would clamp down on FOBTs in its 2,200 shops.
"He (Sutcliffe) was talking about possible (studies) rather than actual when he made the statement," he told reporters.
Shares in the firm were little changed at 402.5 pence by 9.30am, valuing William Hill at £1.38 billion sterling ($2.75 billion).
William Hill has blamed its ageing technology for the fall in online profits. Despite spending millions of pounds trying to build a new system, the firm scrapped its in-house work earlier this year and brought in software specialist Orbis.