The 2026 FIFA World Cup is on course to become the largest sports betting event in history, with operators reporting record engagement during the opening week of the tournament.
The expanded 48-team, 104-match competition, staged across the US, Canada and Mexico, is expected to far exceed betting volumes from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Global wagers of more than US$50bn are forecast, compared with $35bn for the previous tournament. This increase is being driven by a larger match schedule, more favourable kick-off times for major betting markets, the growth of regulated sports wagering in the US and deeper in-play betting products.
Flutter Entertainment, whose brands include FanDuel, Paddy Power, Betfair, Sisal, Sportsbet and Sky Bet, said it expects the World Cup to become the “biggest betting event” in history. The group expects around 10m customers across its platforms and said it could process up to 100,000 bets per minute globally during peak tournament moments.
The US market is central to the increase. Legal sports betting access has expanded to about 65% of the US population, compared with around 40% during the Qatar tournament. Opening matches involving the US and Brazil set records for leading operators. FanDuel said the two teams’ games were its largest football matches by active customers. DraftKings said the same fixtures were the biggest events in its sportsbook history by handle and active users.
DraftKings also reported strong growth in prediction market activity, with first-time prediction customers rising threefold and prediction trading volume up 87% since the start of the tournament. Its sportsbook handle was 5x higher than at the same stage of the 2022 World Cup.
Deutsche Bank has projected US World Cup betting handle of $3.3bn, nearly double the forecast figure for this year’s Super Bowl.
Entain, which owns brands including Ladbrokes, Coral, BetMGM, Sportingbet, bwin and Sports Interaction, say match times and the North American location were benefiting operators with exposure to the US and Brazil.
Operators have also used product offers to increase engagement. bet365 has paid out $39.5m in the first 11 days of the tournament through substitute-related promotions, while William Hill reported strong activity around early matches involving Mexico, Brazil, France and England.
The tournament is primarily a customer acquisition opportunity rather than an immediate revenue driver. The longer-term value for betting operators will depend on whether new World Cup customers become repeat, multi-sport bettors after the tournament.
