Betting shops in York were today bracing themselves for a bumper month as the World Cup tournament began in Paris with the big Scotland and Brazil game.

Together with off-licences and supermarkets, bookmakers are expecting to see custom peak during the next five weeks as hopeful fans try to guess who will be the winners and who will be coming home after the first round.

Hundreds of punters have already put their money on England bringing home the cup with odds at most bookmakers standing at 8-1.

Claire Lapworth, manager at William Hill in Ousegate, York, said: "Most people are going for England because they want them to win."

She said England were joint fourth favourites to win - with Germany - behind Brazil, France and Italy.

The biggest bet, of "a few hundred pounds" had been put on Holland to win, by an English man.

A flurry of bets had also been received on the outcome of today's Scotland match with odds of 8-1 for Scotland to win.

And England striker Alan Shearer stood as joint third favourite to become the top goal scorer.

But Claire said there was just one reason why she and many others, would not be putting her money on England.

"I'm a Middlesbrough fan and I'm not backing England after Gazza was taken out," she said.

Instead she is backing Spain at 12-1.

Bookmaker Baz Oxtoby, from Clifton, York, said the biggest topic in the shop had been the exclusion of Gazza and said he was expecting to see more bets come in as the tournament went on.

Tanya Charlton, deputy manager of Ladbrokes in Piccadilly, York, said: "They're betting on anything and everything to come and we're expecting it to get even busier.

"This is just the start."

She said England striker Alan Shearer was fourth favourite for bets on who would be the top scorer with Brazil's Ronaldo coming in as favourite.

Fans wanting to back an outsider could choose from Iran or Japan at 500-1.

Meanwhile off licences and supermarkets have been stocking up in preparation for the tournament.

Malcolm Forrest, manager of Sainsbury's in Fossbank, York, said: "We're certainly expecting a rush, especially if the weather dries up again.

"But it will really start happening when England start playing."

Martin Grange, non-food trading manager at Clifton Moor's Tesco predicted the sales would keep up as long as England and Scotland stayed in the tournament.

He said three members of staff had already gone over to France to watch the matches over there.

Barry Turnbull, manager of Marks & Spencer in Parliament Street, York, said: "We anticipate people will refocus their spending over the football period and are expecting big sales."

Eric Boyd, a partner in the York Beer Shop, in Sandringham Street, said: "We normally get people coming in asking for special beers for the match they're watching."

He admitted he did not have any Brazilian beer, but had plenty of Scottish, English and German among others.

And for those who are already fed up of the World Cup, there are plenty cheap deals on offer at travel agents.

Eric Walton, owner of Acomb Travel Agency, said: "The World Cup has affected sales to some degree for this month and there are a lot of seats for sale for June with some very good prices. It looks as though people have decided to stay at home."

And John Smith, manager of Haxby Travel, said he had seen a similar picture, but was now seeing a slight increase in sales with the bad weather.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.