The 2026 FIFA World Cup is shaping up to be one of the largest gambling events in history, with Americans expected to wager more than $3 billion, potentially kicking past Super Bowl betting totals.
The quadrennial tournament, which begins June 11 across 16 host cities in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, is projected to generate about $3.1 billion in legal online sports bets from U.S. bettors alone, according to a new forecast from Bookies.com.
On top of that, prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket are expected to add another $2.4 billion in World Cup wagering, showing how betting activity is spreading beyond traditional sportsbooks.
The surge builds on already record-setting momentum in U.S. sports gambling. Americans legally wagered about $1.8 billion on the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, which is nearly on par with Super Bowl betting levels at the time.
Analysts attribute the rapid growth to the expansion of legalized mobile sports betting across more states, the tournament’s expanded 48-team format, which creates more matches to bet on, and rising mainstream interest in soccer among U.S. fans, who are increasingly treating it as a major betting sport.
“Prediction markets have been around for a long time, but they didn’t start taking sports trades until last year,” Bill Speros, sports betting analyst for Bookies.com, said, CBS News reports. “So you’re going to see Kalshi and Polymarket probably do a significant number on this.”
A PwC survey found that 58 percent of Americans said they plan to place a wager on the tournament through sportsbooks, prediction markets, fantasy contests or even informal bets with friends and family, according to the outlet.
Among those bettors, about one in three say they expect to wager at least $250, according to the survey, which polled more than 2,000 adults in April.
The massive scale of this year’s World Cup helps with the betting surge, with the tournament expanding for the first time to 48 teams, up from 32 in 2022, and growing to a total of 104 matches.
In terms of odds, France and Spain are the top betting favorites to win the World Cup, with odds around +450 to +500, according to DraftKings. Right behind them are England (+650) and Brazil (+800), followed by reigning champion Argentina (+900), all seen as strong but slightly less likely title winners.
Team USA is considered a long shot overall, with odds around +6,000 to +8,000 to win the tournament – about a 1 percent chance. Still, sportsbooks expect the U.S. to do well in the early rounds. They are favored to win their group at +130, and expected to advance out of it at -575 against Turkey (+1,000), Paraguay (+1,000) and Australia (+60,000).
