The second-biggest British bookmaker, William Hill, unveiled on Monday plans to take a gamble of its own by floating on the London Stock Exchange next month despite depressed market conditions.

"The flotation of William Hill is an important development at an exciting time for the company and the gambling industry as a whole," said chief executive David Harding.

"William Hill has a long established and widely recognised brand and is a market leader in all major betting channels in the UK with a growing international presence via its online business," he said in a statement.

"The business has achieved long term growth in both income and profitability and since 1999 has increased operating profit at a compound annual rate of over 20 per cent."

Shares will be on sale to institutional investors and employees.

But the share sale has been seen by some analysts as having lengthy odds of success given the lukewarm reception received by British music, video and book retailer HMV when its shares began trading here last week.

William Hill owns 1,500 bookmaker shops in Britain, and also boasts 150,000 active telephone customers and almost 100,000 active Internet customers.