The Fifa Men’s World Cup is set to become the biggest betting event in history, with more than $50bn (£37.4bn) expected to be wagered globally – a surge driven by the tournament’s expansion to 48 teams and more than 100 matches.
Financial services firm Macquarie forecast that punters will place around $500m per match, up from the $35bn total wagered during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The increase is primarily due to the jump from 32 to 64 matches, said Macquarie analyst Chad Benyon. The favourable time zones of hosts the US, Canada and Mexico will also boost global viewership, fuelling demand among punters in Europe, Latin America and Africa, he added.
“World Cup expected to see $50bn in bets, sparking warnings of debt and addiction from campaigners.”
Another driver is the growing sports betting market in the US, where around 65% of the population can now gamble on sports, compared with 40% in 2022. This is the first World Cup on which a majority of Americans can place bets.
But gambling awareness groups have issued stark warnings. Les Bernal, national director of Stop Predatory Gambling, said: “Hundreds of thousands of people across the world, especially young men, will suffer life-changing debt and financial distress” because of gambling during the tournament. “99 out of 100 sports bettors lose money in the long-term,” Bernal said. “The business model for commercialised sport gambling operators is completely based upon the people who have been turned into addicted gamblers, an addiction that causes victims to die by suicide at a rate unlike any other.” He called on politicians globally to act to curtail addictive forms of gambling and prevent consumers being “fleeced” during the World Cup.
UK-based gambling reform campaigner Matt Zarb-Cousin said punters betting on the World Cup will be “cross-promoted more addictive casino content”. A National Centre for Social Research report found that, in the UK, 79% of gambling company winnings came from the top 10% of spenders – those who wagered at least £5,639 in a year.
Benyon warned the tournament could be a “flash in the pan” for betting giants if they cannot convert one-off punters into “repeat, multi-sport bettors”. He said those with casino platforms on their website stand to benefit most from the surge.
The forecast comes as regulations around online prediction markets in the US are poised to become stricter. On Wednesday, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission – the US regulatory body for prediction markets – pr…