The failure of British teams to qualify for the Euro 2008 football championship, a misfortune for sports fans, proved even worse luck for bookmakers.

Free from the pull of national pride, many fans backed individual players in what bookies have called the “Torres effect”, after Fernando Torres, of Liverpool.

Because of their impact on English football, Spaniards were particular favourites, with players such as Torres and Cesc Fàbregas, of Arsenal, sparking a lively betting market. The upshot was that, when Spain won the tournament, the bookies lost heavily.

Ladbrokes, the largest betting chain in Britain, said yesterday that after Spain's first-round 4-1 victory over Russia, the team became the most backed in the competition.

More than £30million was gambled on the tournament, a fifth more than during Euro 2004 in Portugal, but Ladbrokes made half as much money. The company blamed this on an unusually high number of games won by the favourites, 21 out of 31. Spain were heavily backed in the final stages, which added to the bookmaker's woe.

Even the horses were not running for the bookies this summer as Royal Ascot produced eleven winning favourites, up from six last year.

Heavily backed favourites are bad news for bookies but successful trainers are worse. When Aidan O'Brien, the Irish trainer, brought home four winners at Royal Ascot the bookies faced big payouts.

“The punters latched on to Aidan O'Brien,” a spokesman for Ladbrokes said. “That has had an impact.”

Not even the high-rollers have been able to help. Ladbrokes, which has more than 2,400 shops in Britain, Ireland and Belgium, said its profit from high-stakes gamblers fell by a third to £40million and the number of unique customers dropped by 7,200 to 90,200. It attributed this to ups and downs in the trading cycle, but analysts suggested that smaller bonuses for City traders could have had an influence.

Overall the company reported a 16per cent drop in pre-tax profits to £134million in the first six months of this year.

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