Paddy Power’s recruitment drive in the UK, Ireland and Australia is likely to exceed original targets due to bumper financial results, according to a spokesperson for the betting firm.

The Irish Independent reports the group expects to create significantly more than the 500 Irish jobs as it reported a 14% increase in operating profit in interim results.

Last November, the firm announced that was to create 1,440 new positions in Ireland, UK and Australia by 2013 with 500 new jobs created in Ireland, 810 new jobs in the UK and 130 jobs in Australia.

A Paddy Power spokesperson told Recruiter: “As our expansions gathers pace, we will need more people to service that. We have recruited more than we expected this year. We have been planning for the future. We want to get the brightest and best to help us get there.

“The recruitment in the UK and Australia probably will be exceeded to a small degree but nothing too significant. As we expand in the markets we are growing in, we will need to recruit more people there.

“It is probably safe to say as our results have been pretty strong, that we will probably exceed what our expectations would have been in terms of recruitment.”