JAKARTA - Sports betting company and technology provider across the US sports betting industry, Caesars Sportsbook, reported that the 2026 World Cup generated record betting volumes for the overall football tournament and even rivaled other major long-running sporting events.
By combining the men's and women's NCAA basketball tournaments, Caesars Sportsbook said the 2026 World Cup generated 30 percent more betting handle and several percentage points more betting volume than March Madness (the iconic NCAA Division I single-elimination tournament).
The 2026 World Cup is also far ahead of the 2022 World Cup in sports betting companies, partly because of the favorable time zone, more matches, and general enthusiasm associated with the tournament played on North American soil.
DraftKings reported receiving 650 percent more wagers. Then, BetMGM reported receiving 211 percent more wagers than the four-year-old edition.
"The 2026 World Cup will go down as the largest betting event in U.S. history - we're talking about bet amounts equivalent to 10 Super Bowls."
"A sport that was once said to be disliked by the United States, is now one of those recorded in history. The whole country wants to participate," said Neil Walsh, Senior Vice President of Hard Rock Bet, as reported by ESPN.
The 2026 World Cup final - where Spain beat Argentina 1-0 - was the most wagered-on soccer game in the history of BetMGM, Caesars Sportsbook and DraftKings - both in terms of the number of bets and the total value of bets.
BetMGM said the final surpassed every 2026 College Football Playoff game, as well as every March Madness game, NBA Finals and Stanley Cup Final.
DraftKings said it received 2 million wagers just for the final alone. Then, Caesars received almost 65 percent more betting value on the game than the previous record-setting game, which also took place during the 2026 World Cup.
The final match drew 4.4 times more wagers than Caesars' pre-tournament record.
Argentina and its legendary superstar, Lionel Messi, are a big draw in the sports betting market. Messi is the most bet on player for side bets and long-term bets.
Argentina ended up drawing the most total tickets for many sports betting sites. GeoComply showed that they recorded 7.6 million location checks for Argentina's late-night match against Algeria, more than most games in prime time.
Of course, the United States was also a huge betting attraction in the daily and long-term betting market, and easily became the biggest burden in the sports betting market before the United States was eliminated.
DraftKings reported that the USMNT (United States National Team) is the most bet on team for the 2026 World Cup.
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