LONDON, June 30: A strong line-up for the quarter-finals of soccer's World Cup may be good news for the tournament, but it shows bookmakers have been having a tough time, Britain's biggest betting shop chain said on Friday.

“It's fair to say you've had 56 matches played in the World Cup and 39 of them have been won by favourites,” David Harding, Chief Executive of William Hill Plc said.

“So you would expect the bookmakers probably aren't doing quite as well at the moment as we have in past World Cups.”

However, William Hill said in a trading update that it was on track to meet analysts' consensus forecast for its 2006 results, which Harding said was for earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of about 295 million pounds ($536 million).

“We had a bit in the bag before the World Cup started so we're comfortable where we're at,” he said in a telephone interview.

At 0840 GMT, William Hill shares were up 1.6 percent at 620 pence, valuing the firm at about 2.2 billion pounds.

Harding said he would be cheering on England “all the way” in its quarter-final match with Portugal on Saturday, despite the fact the victory would probably be bad for business.

“Quite clearly if England win, that's our biggest liability...but it's not a disaster.”

He said the tournament had thrown up some surprises -- such as Italy drawing with the United States and Ukraine reaching the quarter-finals -- and that these had helped bookmakers.

Harding also said he was relaxed about signs that online gaming giant PartyGaming is looking to buy a sports betting operation.

A source close to the matter said on Thursday that PartyGaming was planning to raise $400 million to $500 million, part of which could be used to buy a sports betting site.—Reuters