BOOKMAKER William Hill has had a tough start to the year as it gets to grips with new EU tax changes.

The company, which has 2,400 UK betting shops, said the introduction of a new European Union tax on online betting from January 1 would cost it around £5 million a year but William Hill said it was confident that it remains in a strong position going into 2015.

Its annual operating profits for 2014 are set to beat expectations with a rise of 11 per cent to £370 million after a successful World Cup in which it took more than 462,000 bets via mobile devices during the competition.

Hill said its online revenues jumped 18 per cent, with the figure from its shops slightly ahead but telephone sales 28 per cent down.

Operating profit in the fourth quarter of the year was down seven per cent.