STANLEY LEISURE, the bookmaker and casino operator, revealed yesterday that profits last year at Crockfords, its upmarket London casino, had been decimated by a “couple of handfuls” of high-roller gamblers.

Profits from the plush Mayfair club tumbled from £15.9 million to £1.6 million as some of its biggest punters embarked on an extended winning spree, leading to a collapse in the win margin from 29.1 per cent to 10.1 per cent.

The group refused to identify the winning gamblers, although industry observers suggested that Quek Leng Chan, the Malaysian billionaire who controls Thistle Hotels, could be among them. Mr Quek is believed to have had informal talks with Stanley about the possibility of starting a casino in one of Thistle’s London hotels.

Other well-known highrollers on the London scene include Kerry Packer, the Australian tycoon, the Russian businessman Timori Kartchava and Fouad Al Zayat, the Syrian-born gambler who two years ago was sued by the Ritz Club over unpaid debts. Another big player is Philip Green, the retail billionaire who tried to buy Marks & Spencer, although Mr Green insisted last night that he had never been to Crockfords.

Bob Wiper, Stanley’s chief executive, said last night that the fall in profits at Crockfords and the Colony Club, its other high-end London casino, was “not an attendance issue”, adding: “Occasionally high-rollers have to win.”

He said that in the four years under Stanley’s ownership, Crockfords profits had averaged £11.6 million. “It’s a sound long-term investment. We’re not looking to sell up or change our modus operandi.”

The problems in London held back group pre-tax profits, which rose just 1 per cent to £41.8 million before goodwill in the year to May 2, from turnover up 67 per cent to £1.66 billion. Earnings per share after goodwill fell to 15.6p (22.6p), but the final dividend of 6.75p makes a total up 10 per cent to 9.5p (8.6p).

Profits from its gaming arm, which runs 41 casinos, fell by 31 per cent to £26 million, despite a 17 per cent increase from its regional casinos. Its recently opened Star City club in Birmingham, the UK’s biggest casino, incurred expected losses of £2.3 million.

The saving grace for Stanley was the performance of its betting arm, which lifted profits by 79 per cent to £34.2 million as profits from its gaming machines more than doubled. This was largely due to the continued roll-out of lucrative fixed-odds betting terminals in its shops.

Michael Riddy, finance director, said that a reversal in the poor run of results at last year’s Cheltenham Festival and the Grand National had contributed to a 22 per cent rise in the “across the counter” gross win in its shops.

Stanley had also enjoyed a strong Euro 2004 football tournament. “We were delighted that Greece won and that so many favourites did so badly,” said Mr Riddy. “But we suffered from having a lot of shops in the North West which took lots of bets on Milan Baros, the Liverpool forward, winning the golden boot at 50 to 1. We lost quite a bit.”

Shares in Stanley, which have fallen from 507½p since April, added 29½p to 417½p after the company said that it expected to benefit from the forthcoming deregulation of gambling.