World Cup 2026 Barely Moved Global Betting Demand, Blask Finds

Analytics firm Blask published a report examining the 2026 football World Cup's impact on the iGaming industry, studying betting demand, brand interest, and operator margins across 44 markets, according to a summary published by iGaming Future.

The report's central finding is that the World Cup had minimal effect on overall betting demand, with Blask's index rising just 0.2% compared to pre-tournament levels, despite H2 Gambling Capital's forecast of a record $60 billion in legal betting handle for the tournament, a 71% increase over the 2022 World Cup. Year-on-year, demand grew 21.1%, though Blask attributed this growth primarily to organic market expansion rather than the tournament itself. The report also introduced a new metric, the Match Profitability Index, which found that bookmakers finished in a net loss across all 104 matches combined. The most profitable single match for bookmakers was England's 0-0 draw with Ghana, while the least profitable was New Zealand's 1-5 loss to Belgium; notably, the over/under 2.5 goals market generated more losses for bookmakers than any other market type across that specific match.

Betting interest peaked during the tournament's first week rather than the final in most markets. Following the elimination of host nations, demand fell 28% in the United States and 11% in Mexico, while demand in Canada rose 7% over the same period. The findings suggest that despite record wagering projections, the World Cup's overall demand impact was more modest and unevenly distributed across markets than pre-tournament forecasts anticipated.