Expanded World Cup drives sharp rise in betting, industry figures show

PARIS: The expanded World Cup has generated far stronger betting activity than many had expected, with industry figures indicating a major increase over the 2022 tournament despite early doubts about moving from 32 to 48 teams.

Darren Small, senior vice president of Managed Trading Services at Sportradar, told AFP the tournament had delivered an 80% rise in betting ticket volume compared with the previous World Cup. He said the company had recorded more bets and more active customers, adding that the event had gone beyond internal expectations even though comparisons with 2022 were complicated by that tournament having been played in winter.

Small said the increase had come alongside the expansion to 104 matches, but added that broader industry growth had also contributed. For Sunday’s final between Spain and holders Argentina, he said Sportradar expected to process about 8.5 million betting tickets across its 250 bookmaker clients worldwide. Sportradar Group AG describes itself as a global sports technology company focused on sports fans and bettors.

England leads betting interest

Among teams, England attracted the highest level of betting interest despite failing to reach the final. According to the figures cited by Small, England drew around 16.3 million betting tickets, followed by France with 15.5 million, Argentina with 15 million and Spain with 14.5 million. Those four sides were also the tournament’s semi-finalists and the top four teams in the FIFA rankings.

The matches that generated the largest betting volumes were England’s 2-1 semi-final loss to Argentina, which drew about 5.8 million betting tickets, England’s 2-1 quarter-final victory over Norway with 5.7 million, and Spain’s 2-0 semi-final win over 2018 champions France with 5.3 million.

Bookmakers’ fears eased by group stage surprises

David Stevens, head of public relations at English bookmaker Coral, told AFP that concerns over the enlarged tournament had eased once the group stage began to produce unexpected results. He said bookmakers had initially feared too many one-sided matches involving smaller nations, but that did not materialise.

Stevens highlighted Cape Verde’s performances as especially notable after the team drew with both Argentina and Spain before eventually going out to Argentina in a 3-2 extra-time match in the last 32. He said those results helped answer doubts about whether lesser-known teams would be competitive in the expanded format.

Small also said betting markets had been boosted by the growing range of options available to customers, extending beyond match winners to player-specific and in-game outcomes.

Resistance to any further expansion

The strong commercial response comes as FIFA president Gianni Infantino has floated the possibility of expanding the World Cup again, this time to 64 teams. Stevens said Coral would not support another increase, arguing there was a threshold at which the volume of matches could reduce fan and bettor engagement.

He nevertheless suggested Infantino’s influence within FIFA meant the idea could still advance, even if bookmakers were not in favour.