THE Scot who took charge of Ladbrokes in April has vowed to take the company back to the top of the UK betting industry.

Jim Mullen, who initially joined Ladbrokes to head its digital business from William Hill two years ago, admitted the company has "underwhelmed" in the last three to four years.

But he said the enormous goodwill shown towards the brand by gamblers brings with it the potential to regain ground which has been lost to its competitors.

In his first round of media interviews since becoming chief executive on April 1, Mr Mullen said: "We have probably underwhelmed in the last three or four years. But we have a fantastic brand name. The interesting thing about Ladbrokes is that if you ask anyone - and the surveys prove this - they still regard as the number one betting firm in the UK.

"You could probably argue we don't deserve it, but that means a massive amount of betters out there regard us in that way. We just basically need to stand up to that now.

"I think Ladbrokes is a UK cultural institution and I just want to get that back."

Mr Mullen, who started his working life in betting shops as a student in Lanarkshire, Glasgow and Edinburgh, conceded that a "couple of wrong turns" on strategy had caused the firm to lose ground in recent years.

But he noted that, with 2100 shops around the UK, it was still the number two player in retail gambling.

Some 300 are in Scotland, making it the biggest betting shop player north of the border. The number of bets placed on football matches through Ladbrokes in Scotland was fundamental to its decision to become the headline sponsor of the Scottish Professional Football League, alongside the belief Mr Mullen holds that it remains a strong product.

He added:"In digital, we were up there [at] one, two or three, but back at five or six. There is no real data on it. That's an opportunity where we can grow in mobile."

Mr Mullen was speaking on the eve of Gamble Aware, a week-long event that will promote responsible gambling between June 22 and 28. He said responsible gambling was at the centre of the culture at Ladbrokes, noting that its performance in this area was now "part of our reward and pay" as executives.