UK bookmakers William Hill are catching hell for blaming their 2016 operating profit shortfall on punters getting lucky.

On Monday, Hills informed investors that its unaudited full year 2016 operating profit would likely come in around £260m, at the bottom end of its previously forecasted range of £260m-280m. The profit warning was the third Hills has issued in the past 12 months and the 2016 estimate is over £30m less than the company took home in 2015.

Final figures won’t be released until February 24, but Hills said its sports betting gross win margins were “below expectations” due to “unfavorable football and horseracing results” in the month of December. Hills noted that this was a continuation of a trend it had already flagged in its November 14 trading statement.

Hills’ interim CEO Philip Bowcock said the punter-friendly results had shaved £20m off its 2016 forecast. However, Bowcock stressed that “the improvements we saw in wagering in Online and Australia in the second half have continued in recent weeks.” With “key underlying trends continuing to be positive,” Bowock insisted that the punter-friendly December results “have not changed our confidence in a better performance in 2017.”