Who needs Las Vegas? Placing your bets ahead of Google’s quarterly earnings can generate just as much excitement – without quite the same risk of losing your shirt. That will, however, be scant comfort for those who bet on another blow-out quarter from the internet search giant. Hitting gross revenue expectations of $1.9bn for the quarter and missing at the earnings line, largely because of a higher tax rate, was enough to send Google shares down by more than 15 per cent at one stage in after-market trading.

Investors are caught in a bind. Google still has the most phenomenal growth engine. Its search advertising business enjoys huge margins, is leaving rivals in its wake, and still has plenty of growth opportunities, particularly overseas. But it is valued for that. The bears are ready to pounce on any signs of a slowdown – in this case gross revenues rose by 86 per cent year-on-year, down from 96 per cent in the third quarter.