World Cup 2026 betting trends and how the numbers changed

The 2026 FIFA World Cup gave the betting industry a much bigger tournament to work with. The competition grew from 32 to 48 teams and from 64 to 104 matches. Meanwhile, the US entered with a far more developed legal betting market than in 2022. Macquarie put global wagers at more than $50 billion, compared with roughly $35 billion four years earlier.

The World Cup betting numbers at a glance

Here's a side-by-side comparison of the main differences between the World Cup 2022 and 2026 and the betting numbers. This is an approximate industry estimate based on an 8% hold applied to the wager totals.

The extra games explain some of the increase, but not all of it. The US betting market had also matured considerably since Qatar.

The American Gaming Association estimated that US bettors planned to wager $1.8 billion on the 2022 tournament. Eilers & Krejcik Gaming put the potential 2026 figure at up to $4.4 billion, depending partly on the US team's progress.

America became a much bigger betting market

In the US, the difference in access is real. Around 65% of Americans lived in jurisdictions with legal sports betting by 2026, compared with roughly 40% during the 2022 World Cup. That gave far more US consumers a straightforward route to regulated sports betting during the World Cup.

The tournament itself also pushed the numbers up. The US, Canada and Mexico hosted matches across North America, bringing the competition directly into the world's biggest regulated betting market. Qatar never offered that.

Prediction markets tripled their share of US betting

Traditional sportsbooks were not the only platforms chasing World Cup bettors this time. Prediction markets had become a serious part of the US betting conversation by the summer, with H2 Gambling Capital estimating that they accounted for 27% of legal US sports betting volume during the tournament.

That was up from around 9% at the start of 2026. Platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket therefore entered the World Cup as something more than a novelty. They offered another way for US users to trade on match outcomes and other football-related events.

Kalshi's figures show just how quickly prediction markets have grown. Reuters reported that Kalshi recorded $27 billion in trading volume across the platform over the tournament period, and attracted around three million users.

Why crypto betting stays off the books

Crypto remained another part of the wider betting scene, particularly outside regulated markets. Estimates varied sharply depending on whether they included offshore and unregulated activity, making direct comparisons with licensed sportsbooks difficult. No major crypto operator published tournament volume, so the true total stays unknown.

A substantial amount of the World Cup betting happened beyond the figures published by regulated operators, so the distinction matters. Crypto casinos and offshore platforms can attract bettors who want different payment options or access to markets unavailable through their local sportsbook.

More betting, more markets

The tournament created plenty of opportunities for operators. On DATA.BET's own platform, pre-match markets generated 63% of betting turnover during the 2026 competition. Live betting accounted for the remaining 37%.

That split also shows why the expanded 104-match schedule mattered. Every additional fixture created another pre-match market and another live betting window, which is another chance for operators to keep users engaged.

After the World Cup 2026

The World Cup 2026 vs 2022 betting comparison is about more than the $50 billion headline. There were:

• 40 more matches
• 16 additional teams
• 16 cities across 3 countries
• 65% of Americans able to bet legally, up from 40%

On top of that, sportsbooks faced competition from platforms that barely featured in the previous World Cup conversation, like prediction markets.

So what comes next? Record tournament activity is useful for sportsbooks, but retaining those newly acquired customers will be the harder test.

For players, the choice widened rather than simplified. Sportsbooks, prediction markets and crypto casinos all price the same match differently, and they do not all offer the same protections if something goes wrong.

If prediction markets and crypto platforms keep their momentum, the next major football tournament could look very different yet again.