Sportsbooks and technology providers across the United States sports betting industry report that this year’s World Cup produced record handle for a soccer tournament across the board and even rivaled other major prolonged sporting events.
Combining the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournaments together, Caesars Sportsbook said that the 2026 World Cup produced a 30% greater bet count and “a few percentage points” more handle than March Madness.
Partially owing to favorable time zones, more matches and a general fervor associated with the tournament being played on North American soil, the 2026 World Cup also massively outperformed the 2022 event at sportsbooks: DraftKings reports taking 650% more bets and BetMGM reports taking 211% more bets than four years ago.
“This World Cup will go down as the biggest betting event in American history — we’re talking the equivalent of ten Super Bowls,” Hard Rock Bet SVP of sportsbook Neil Walsh said over email. “A sport we were once told Americans would not embrace turned into one for the history books. The whole country wanted in.”