BY TOM SOMACH

William Hill PLC, parent company of Internet poker room William Hill Poker (www.willhill.com) and other gambling entities, announced that overall company profits were up in 2006, despite having to abandon the U.S. poker market.

The company reported that its overall net income rose a whopping 48% or $104 million, from $218 million in 2005 to $322 million in 2006.

The company attributed the increased profits mainly to the huge monies it earned booking 2006 World Cup games.

The World Cup, a quadrennial international soccer tournament, is the most heavily-bet sporting event in the world.

In addition to operating an online poker room, William Hill PLC, a British company, runs an online sportsbook, online casino and a chain of walk-in sportsbooks throughout the U.K. and elsewhere in Europe.

After the U.S. Congress passed anti-online gambling legislation last fall, William Hill Poker became one of the many online poker rooms around the world to pull out of the U.S. market.

The online casino, called William Hill Casino, also abandoned the American market as the U.S. passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) of 2006.

William Hill PLC officials conceded that losing the U.S. market for both its online poker room and online casino cost the company profits, but that was more than offset by the year’s earnings from the World Cup.

But since the World Cup is held only once every four years, and the company won’t be able to depend on World Cup profits again this year, the company also conceded it will have to look for other sources of revenue in 2007 to offset lost business from the U.S.

Overall, though, company officials were pleased.

“I am delighted with the performance of the group,´´ William Hill PLC chief executive officer David Harding said.

Regarding William Hill Poker, Harding said UIGEA caused the poker room to lose not only American customers, but European ones, too.

“When the U.S. (market) closed down, a number of firms relocated to Costa Rica,” Harding said. “So you saw a flight to Costa Rican-based sites, not just from American players, but also some European players. So that hit our poker business harder than we’d expected.”

Companies that operate online poker rooms have reported mixed results so far this year, as far as overall annual company profits are concerned.

PartyGaming PLC, the parent company of Internet poker room Party Poker (www.partypoker.com), announced earlier this month that its annual net profits for 2006 are down  56% from what they were in 2005.

Also earlier this month, 888 Holdings LLC, the parent company of Internet poker room Pacific Poker (www.pacificpoker.com), announced that its total revenues were up 7% in 2006, compared to 2005.

(E-mail Tom Somach at tomsomach@yahoo.com.)