2026 World Cup Betting Breakdown: $3.1 Billion To Be Legally Wagered In U.S. Plus $2.37 Billion In Prediction Market Trades

By Bill Speros

Apr 20th, 2026 11:13 AM EDT

(Via Grok)

The 2026 World Cup aims to be the largest sports betting event in world history. Play begins 50 days from Wednesday on June 11 across 16 venues in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Our Bookies.com 2026 World Cup Betting Breakdown projects $3.1 billion will be legally wagered on the 2026 World Cup in the United States, with another $2.37 billion traded on Polymarket and Kalshi.

Americans legally wagered $1.8 billion on the 2022 World Cup. That soccer betting number will sharply increase in 2026 thanks to an expanded tournament field, matches being played in prime time across North America, and seven additional states with legal sports betting since Argentina won the 2022 Cup in Qatar.

This year’s tournament, in addition, features a record 48 teams, up from 32 four years ago. In 2022, the World Cup took place in and around the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas. And most games being were played overnight in U.S. time in Qatar, which is 7 hours ahead of the Eastern Time Zone. This year's tournament delivers a ready-for-prime-time event in the United States not taking place during (American) football season.

FIFA estimates more than 6 billion people will watch at least part of the tournament.

2026 World Cup Betting Breakdown: A Look At The Numbers

Here is a breakdown of the Bookies.com 2026 World Cup Betting Breakdown, in addition to the projected trading volume on Kalshi and Polymarket.

2026 World Cup Betting Breakdown: The Venues

World Cup matches are set to be hosted at 16 venues in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

2026 World Cup Betting Breakdown: What's New In 2026?

Prediction markets such as Kalshi, Polymarket U.S., Robinhood, crypto.com and trading platforms offered by the likes of DraftKings, FanDuel, Underdog, and Fanatics all began accepting sports-related trades in 2025.

One survey finds 64% of those surveyed in states where sports betting is legal intend to wager on Cup play. Paysafe found that 29% of them expect to place their first bet during the World Cup. At the time of the 2022 World Cup, 32 US states had legalized sports betting. This number has expanded to 39, in addition to Washington, D.C and Puerto Rico.

2026 World Cup Betting Breakdown: How We Did It

Bookies.com developed projections for how much the United States will wager on the World Cup, including separate figures for prediction markets. One major U.S. sports betting operator, speaking on background to Bookies.com, estimates a 60% increase in World Cup handle from 2022. New York investment firm Gabelli, meanwhile, writes that legal U.S. sports betting handle could double from the $1.8 billion wagered four years ago reaching $3.6 billion. Our projections, therefore, include those points and input from operators and other sports betting stakeholders. 

Bookies.com then developed state-by-state breakdowns for how much will be wagered in host states that have legal wagering. We determined our state-by-state breakdown using the similar percentages of each state to the overall Super Bowl handle of $1.76 billion from the American Gaming Association.

Prediction Markets Add A New Twist In 2026

For prediction markets, meanwhile, we used Super Bowl trading volume as a baseline. Our projection sees $1.72 in handle for the 2026 World Cup for every $1 of sports book handle on Super Bowl 60. Kalshi ($619.89 million) and Polymarket ($762 million) combined for $1.381 billion in Super Bowl game-related trades. Of course, not all those trades were made in the United States. And our figures DO NOT include prediction market trades on outcomes such as "Who Will Appear During The Halftime Show?" or "Which Song Will Bad Bunny Sing First?"

To get our World Cup projections, thus, we multiplied the combined Super Bowl totals $1.381 billion by the same 172% percentage in difference between Super Bowl handle and World Cup that sports books expect.

Also, prediction market trading volume does not equate to sports book betting handle. Alex Kane, who founded the prediction market and peer-to-peer betting site Sporttrade said a good rule is that $1 in sports betting handle equates to $5 in trading volume in a prediction market. Often times, the same trader moves in and out of the same position on an incremental basis. So even if the price goes from 80 cents to 83 cents on two positions, the total of those two trades are factored into determining the volume.

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