Betting can pay off, it seems. Online gaming company and software group Playtech has made an encouraging start to the year. The firm says it has not been affected by the macroeconomic downturn, reporting total revenues in 2008 of €111.45m, rising from €65.67m in 2007, while pre-tax profit climbed to €41.45m from €26.84m. Last year, Playtech, majority owned by Israeli Teddy Sagi, teamed up with William Hill in a joint venture in which it has a 29 per cent stake. It has added sports betting to its list of services after buying sports betting software provider Player2Players.