More than $50bn (£37.4bn) is expected to be wagered on this year's Fifa Men's World Cup, making it the biggest betting event in history, according to a forecast by financial services firm Macquarie. Punters are predicted to place bets worth around $500m per match during the tournament hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico.
The projected total marks a sharp increase from the $35bn wagered during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, driven primarily by the expansion of the tournament from 32 to 48 teams. With more than 100 matches now scheduled over six weeks – compared with 64 in 2022 – the volume of betting opportunities has surged.
“World Cup expected to be biggest betting event with $50bn in global wagers, up from $35bn in 2022.”
Macquarie analyst Chad Benyon said the favourable time zones of the North American hosts will also boost global viewership, fuelling demand among punters in Europe, Latin America and Africa. Another driver is the growing sports betting market in the US, where about 65% of the population can now gamble on sports, up from 40% in 2022. This means it is the first World Cup on which a majority of Americans can place bets.
But Benyon warned the tournament could be a flash in the pan for betting giants if they fail to convert one-off punters into “repeat, multi-sport bettors”. He added that those with casino platforms on their website stand to benefit most from the surge.
Gambling awareness groups expressed alarm. Les Bernal, national director of Stop Predatory Gambling, warned that “hundreds of thousands of people across the world, especially young men, will suffer life-changing debt and financial distress” because of gambling during the World Cup. “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 for politicians globally to act to curtail addictive forms of gambling and prevent consumers being “fleeced”.
UK-based gambling reform campaigner Matt Zarb-Cousin said punters betting on the World Cup will be “cross-promoted more addictive casino content”. His concerns echo a National Centre for Social Research report which 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.
A spokesperson for the UK’s Betting and Gaming Council, which represents betting companies, pushed back, saying: “The UK has some of the strongest gambling regulations and consumer protections in the world, including age…”. The statement was incomplete, but the industry body has previously highlighted measures such as mandatory age verification and deposit limits.
As the tournament draws closer, the tension between a record-breaking betting bonanza and the human cost of addiction remains unresolved.