Taiwan World Cup Betting Sales Near NT$9 Billion as Sports Lottery Eyes More Records

Taiwan’s sports lottery sold NT$8.93 billion worth of bets during the 2026 World Cup in just over a month, marking its second-highest World Cup sales result and 3.7 times the comparable figure from the 2014 Brazil tournament.

The tournament’s time difference created an unusual challenge. Seventy-five matches, more than 70% of the schedule, took place in Taiwan during the late night, overnight or early morning hours. The usual betting window between the end of work and bedtime had no matches at all.

Taiwan Sports Lottery credited retailers, especially those offering round-the-clock service, as well as retailers who helped recruit online members. Online membership rose to 680,000, and online betting exceeded NT$5 billion for the first time. It accounted for nearly 60% of all betting, allowing overnight matches to attract strong sales despite their inconvenient timing.

The operator introduced several promotions and services during the tournament. These included singer-songwriter Eric Chou Huang-chi as an event ambassador, a large-scale NT$10 million prize draw, a daily Apple giveaway limited to physical betting shops, and a luxury fashion-bag draw for women. Women accounted for 35% of betting, while the new “World Cup Quick Bet” function was designed to make first-time betting easier.

At recognition events in northern, central and southern Taiwan, the operator honored retailers for sales, membership recruitment and customer service. It presented 60 World Cup Sales Excellence awards, 33 Sales Star awards, 18 outstanding online-member recruitment awards and 10 Most Popular Betting Shop awards. The company now hopes the Asian Games, professional baseball playoffs, the NBA and Europe’s top five football leagues will help produce another annual sales record.