Sportech is under the whip

A RUN of well-backed favourites romping home at last year's Cheltenham Festival and Royal Ascot meetings will see full-year profits at Littlewoods' gaming group Sportech fall short of market expectations.

The Littlewoods Bet Direct arm had been expected to break even in 2003 but will remain in the red, although its second half will be better than the first six months. The horseracing results hit online betting operations especially hard.

But Sportech's soft-gaming side - football pools, scratchcards, lottery and instant win games - which accounts for most of its profits, is trading in line with market forecasts. The shares fell 3/4p to 15 3/4p.