Infantino's enlarged World Cup gamble pays off with punters

The expanded 48-team format of the 2026 FIFA World Cup has proven to be a significant draw for bettors, resulting in an 80% increase in betting volume compared to the 2022 tournament. Despite initial skepticism from some football fans about the larger number of teams, the betting industry has seen unprecedented engagement.

Darren Small, senior vice president of Managed Trading Services at Sportradar, a global sports technology company, stated that the company has observed record numbers and surpassed expectations. He noted an 80% rise in ticket volume, indicating more bets and a greater number of active customers. While comparing to the 2022 World Cup, held in winter, presents some difficulty, the overall trend shows a substantial increase in betting activity.

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We’ve seen an 80% increase in the ticket volume. So we’re seeing more bets and more active customers.

For the upcoming final between Spain and defending champions Argentina, Sportradar anticipates handling around 8.5 million betting tickets for its 250 bookmaking clients worldwide. England, despite not reaching the final, topped the betting tables, attracting approximately 16.3 million tickets. France, Argentina, and Spain followed closely. The semi-final clash between Argentina and England generated the highest volume with about 5.8 million tickets.

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Our fear was there would be a large proportion of predictable results, with the so-called smaller nations offering little or no resistance to their established rivals. But in the event, that was not the case at all.