With this year’s expanded World Cup format of 48 teams instead of 32, there will be 104 matches instead of 64, making the tournament even more significant than usual for sports betting operators.
And with the extended tournament taking place in U.S. and LATAM customer-friendly time zones, the FIFA World Cup 2026 is expected to result in this being the highest handle football competition the industry has ever seen.
Opportunities in the Americas
Kevin Hennessy, vice president of communications at Fanatics Betting & Gaming, expects the World Cup to be a huge event for Fanatics Sportsbook. As one of the newest sportsbooks in the United States, this will be Fanatics’ first Men’s World Cup.
“The interest in the Women’s World Cup was great for us and the fact that the games will be televised when US households can watch with their friends and family will only make it more appealing to the general public,” says Hennessy.
“I think the time of the games will have a real positive impact for our betting business. You will have more fans watching and Fanatics customers will have more time to place their wagers. Having the ability to really watch the games and even see some matches in person is great for customers. While football fans are used to waking up early to watch the Premier League and other European leagues, Fanatics Sportsbook customers will definitely benefit from having the games televised at times when everyone can watch.”
Tom Pullin, senior trader at BetMGM, is similarly enthused.
“We are anticipating the 2026 World Cup to be our biggest soccer tournament ever. With multiple rounds and popular teams and players, the World Cup is very much like the NCAA tournament,” he explains. “Favourable times for all matches will drive increased action, while having multiple host nations could lead to more attention on those games, especially if we get a matchup between the host countries.
“Favourites and overs are popular with many bettors,” says Pullin. “Popular teams receive the most action, and we expect the USA team to receive lopsided betting driven by patriotism.”
“It’s going to be an action-packed six weeks, with only five rest days, so there will be plenty of soccer on offer for viewers,” adds Mark Bickerdike, head of soccer at Caesars Sportsbook. “Additionally, Caesars customers will have more markets, products and offers available to them than ever before.
“I think the US men’s national team has reason to be optimistic about a good run in this tournament. They have performed well in their most recent friendlies under Mauricio Pochettino, with the 5-1 victory over Marcelo Bielsa’s Uruguay being particularly impressive. In addition, they have reached the Round of 16 in three of the last four World Cups. They are the team we have seen the most wagers on in the Tournament Winner market, and have already seen a flurry of bets on them to top Group D.”
Expectations are also high among Latin American sportsbooks, particularly in newly regulated and football-mad Brazil.
Alvaro Garcia, chief marketing officer of Flutter Brazil, notes that Brazil experiences football in a very unique way. “While domestic events sustain day-to-day volume, the World Cup offers a unique opportunity to deepen the emotional connection with the public and lead the main conversations in the market,” says Garcia. “This cycle marks the beginning of a more ambitious phase for our Betnacional brand, in which we seek not only to operate in the sector, but to occupy a real space within Brazilian sports culture.
“Brazilians have a relationship of great intensity and passion with football. In domestic leagues, this connection is marked by natural rivalries between fan bases and is very closely tied to the hardcore supporter. In the World Cup, however, this scenario changes completely – the country unites around a single cause, the Brazilian National Team. This significantly amplifies engagement, including among people who do not follow football on a daily basis but begin to live the World Cup atmosphere. This behaviour is also reflected in betting, with practices deeply rooted in our culture, such as pools among friends and family.
“We take advantage of these moments of high attention to amplify our message with the support of ambassadors such as Vini Jr. and Galvão Bueno, reaching a broader audience. It is the ideal scenario to show that we are a serious company, with cutting-edge technology and a focus on user experience, consciously converting new players. At the same time, we reinforce trust and service quality for those who are already part of our platforms,” he adds. “In the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, the Brazilian market was not yet regulated. Today, we operate in a fully regulated environment, which gives us security and legitimacy to invest with even greater confidence in high-impact media and brand building.”
Andrea Rossi, Betsson’s commercial director for LatAm, believes the World Cup is the single most important event for brand visibility, cross-funnel player acquisition and future growth in the region.
“Compared to domestic leagues, we see a higher volume of new, recreational customers who prefer traditional wagers, resulting in a lower average turnover per user but a significant increase in active players, driving some truly record-breaking moments,” says Rossi. “For the 2026 edition, we anticipate more sophisticated in-play betting due to the maturing betting behaviour of customers and the introduction of new betting features.
“World Cups are the ultimate catalyst for growth. In 2022, we saw a 98% surge in new customers in LATAM. We expect 2026 to be even bigger, as favourable time zones and more matches will maximise customer volume and engagement across all Latin America,” Rossi adds. “From a product perspective, features such as an enhanced BetBuilder, flexible Cash Out options, and Early Payouts—along with new engagement tools we are developing for the tournament—will deliver maximum excitement and lots of fun to our customers.”
Potential challenges in Europe
The World Cup will also be a boon for European operators, although they will have to contend with the less friendly time zones of matches playing out across the US, Mexico and Canada.
The silver-lining will be that many matches will be aired during the late-night window in which European operators are allowed to advertise on TV.
“The late-night matches are actually good for us from an advertising perspective,” says David Plumi, chief marketing officer of Spanish gaming operator Luckia. “It’s true that the 3 a.m. match is a bit late, but I think in Spain there’s more of a football culture than a mattress culture when it comes to the World Cup. We also have both online and retail operations in Mexico, and this will be a very important hub for on-site content for us.”
And despite the challenge of time zones and the potential impact on in-play betting in certain markets, the World Cup remains an unrivalled opportunity to reach new customer and engage existing ones.
“The World Cup is among one of the most powerful player-acquisition moments in iGaming,” says Simon Westbury, strategic advisor at 1xBet. “That level of global attention isn’t matched by any domestic league.
“In 2022, FIFA reported a global reach of around five billion people across all platforms, with the final alone drawing roughly 1.5 billion viewers. By contrast, the Premier League’s 2023/24 season delivered a cumulative live global TV audience of just over 1.6 billion across an entire year,” he explains. “From my experience on both the platform and operator side, the World Cup does two things exceptionally well: it brings in new audiences who might only bet during major tournaments, and it deepens engagement with long-standing football customers.
“What we see during a World Cup is a dramatic spike in first time registrations, first deposits, and trial bets from demographics and regions that are often dormant during regular seasons,” he adds. “We see World Cup activity heavily biased towards national teams: patriotic staking, emotional multiples, and spikes around “must-win” games. The new 48-team, 104-match format in 2026 simply creates more of those moments across more countries and time zones. The flip side is that if a big nation exits early, interest in that team drops sharply because there’s no second act.
“Some fan bases will disengage quickly if their national team exits early, so the strategy for 1xBet as a global operator is built on something simple but essential: fan engagement and data. Social communities have grown, real-time conversations have grown, and the expectation for personalised, relevant experiences has grown with them. AI now allows us to analyse fan sentiment, betting patterns and social spikes faster than any previous tournament. That means we can test, learn and adapt in real time and always within responsible-gaming guardrails.”
“Time zones are always a talking point, but from my perspective they’re a planning challenge, not a barrier,” Westbury continues. “The last World Cup engaged around 5 billion people globally, and with that level of interest, even “late” games for Europe still attract meaningful global liquidity – if you’re set up correctly.
“For the late World Cup kick-offs, the focus is on smart preparation rather than blunt promotions: understanding historic engagement patterns, tailoring markets and interfaces to mobile-first, second-screen use, and aligning risk and responsible-gaming tools to the reality that some customers will be betting at midnight or later,” he concludes. “I don’t see late kick-offs as a threat to in-play turnover. I see them as a test of how well your trading, product and compliance teams can operate on a truly global clock.”
The recurring theme that we hear from operators and suppliers is one of customisation. Customising the broader offering to tap into national sentiment while also customising to individual player behaviour and preferences.
As Plumi of Luckia notes, “the biggest difference between this World Cup and the last is the advancement of technology, which allows us to do things better. Better segmenting our promotions, getting to know our users better, and thus being able to offer them exactly what they’re looking for.”
Part 1 – FIFA World Cup: Sportradar and Kambi offer perspectives
Part 2 – FIFA World Cup: Altenar and Genius Sports offer perspectives
Part 3 – FIFA World Cup: OpenBet and Playtech offer perspectives
This series of articles was first published in the Q1 2026 issue of GIQ magazine.