13 June 2018 at 11:01

FootballBy Joe Crilly

The long wait is over with the World Cup kicking off on Thursday and over the course of the last seven days, interest and betting turnover has reached fever pitch.

In the last week, turnover on the World Cup has doubled at William Hill as they prepare to accept over £250m on the tournament (an estimated £1.2bn for the entire betting industry).

'The fatigue that comes at the end of a football season has been banished by pre-tournament friendlies and the amount of money that we have taken over the last seven days suggests that this tournament will be as popular, if not more, than previous World Cups,' said William Hill spokesman Joe Crilly.

In terms of numbers of bets, England have been the sixth best backed side to lift the trophy with 8.7% of all bets, while 4/1 favourites Brazil, have been the subject of 22.8% of all bets.

'We believe that expectations have been tempered this time around regarding England's chances of winning the World Cup and rather than seeing the Three Lions amongst the top two or three best backed, they are in more of a realistic position in punters' estimations,' said William Hill spokesman Joe Crilly. 'Having said that, because of England's price of 16/1, if they were to win it, it would be our second worst result as things stand at the moment.'

World Cup winner: 4/1 Brazil; 9/2 Germany; 11/2 France; 6/1 Spain; 9/1 Argentina; 11/1 Belgium; 16/1 England; 25/1 Portugal; 25/1 Uruguay; 28/1 Croatia; 33/1 Colombia; 50/1 Poland; 50/1 Russia; 100/1 Denmark; 100/1 Mexico; 100/1 Switzerland; 150/1 Egypt; 150/1 Nigeria; 150/1 Sweden; 200/1 Peru; 250/1 Iceland; 250/1 Japan; 300/1 Costa Rica; 300/1 Morocco; 400/1 South Korea; 500/1 Australia; 500/1 Iran; 750/1 Tunisia; 1000/1 Panama; 1000/1 Saudi Arabia

Top goalscorer: 8/1 Neymar; 9/1 Griezmann; 9/1 Messi; 14/1 Ronaldo; 14/1 Werner; 16/1 Kane; 16/1 G Jesus; 18/1 Lukaku; 20/1 Cavani; 22/1 Suarez; 25/1 D Costa; 25/1 Aguero; 25/1 Muller; 28/1 Mbappe; 33/1 BAR

England stage of elimination: 4/1 Group stage; 2/1 last 16; 11/5 quarter final; 5/1 semi-final; 10/1 runner; 16/1 winner

Best backed sides outright (number of bets): 22.8% Brazil; 16.7% Germany; 12.5% France; 10.4% Spain; 8.8% Belgium; 8.7% England

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William Hill plc published this content on 13 June 2018 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 13 June 2018 11:12:01 UTC