Gordon Brown’s pledge to offload Tote bookmakers is the latest instalment in an eight-year struggle to transfer the firm into private ownership.

The most recent sale process for the Tote was abandoned a year ago due to turbulent market conditions.

Goldman Sachs, hired to oversee the sale, reportedly valued the Tote at between £200m and £300m, well down on the £400m submitted in 2007 by a consortium of racetrack owners, which was turned down by the Government because it was backed by private equity.

The consortium reformed soon after, but its offer – reportedly £320m – was rejected at the time for being too low.

Another previous sale attempt was blocked in 2006 by the European Commission, which said the price was deemed too low and tantamount to state aid.

Sports minister Gerry Sutcliffe’s decision last year to end the sale process was welcomed by the company, which has 3,500 permanent and casual staff.

In this year’s annual report, chief executive Trevor Beaumont said: “The spectre of the sale has overshadowed us for several years.

“Certainly, as I approached the end of my fourth year as chief executive, it had been a significant factor in the minds of all the employees in that time and as a result we had understandably lost a significant number of them to our competitors and other industries.

“As the business goes forward we will now be focused on executing a new and exciting three year plan driving the Tote to record profitability.”

Ladbrokes today said it could consider making an offer for the business, which operates 540 high street outlets as well as internet arm totesport.com.

A spokesman for the firm said: “Potentially we would be interested but it would depend on the structure of the deal.”

The firm has outlets all over the country and it is thought that other contenders that still have further to grow – such as Paddy Power – might be more keen on the business.

A spokesman for Paddy Power said: “We are open minded about anything that will help us grow as a company.”

Gala Coral was thought to be a front-runner in the previous sale process.

However, the UK’s biggest bingo operator is currently working on a restructuring that would see lenders write off £540m in debt.

The industry has been hit by the economic downturn and higher gaming taxes and it is unclear which of the potential bidders may eventually come forward.

Wigan-based Tote posted gross profits of £155.8m for the year to the end of March, down 4.7% as its telephone betting division suffered a slowdown.

The Tote – or the Horserace Totaliser Board – was set up by an Act of Parliament in 1928.

Its original purpose was to offer on-course pool betting on horseracing as an alternative to starting price betting with bookmakers and to distribute its profits for “purposes conducive to the improvement of breeds of horses or the sport of horseracing”.

It contributes to UK racing by investing a proportion of its profits, although last year it cut its handout to £10.4m from £11.9m the previous year, including sponsorships and payments to racecourses.