World Cup 2026 Sets Up a Record for the U.S. Betting Market

The 2026 FIFA World Cup could become not only the biggest sporting event of the summer for the United States, but also the largest tournament in the history of the local betting market. According to the study’s forecasts, Americans could wager around $5.47 billion on the matches, including legal sportsbooks and alternative prediction platforms.

Most of the handle, around $3.1 billion, is expected to come through licensed sportsbook operators. Another $2.37 billion could flow through Kalshi and Polymarket, where users make forecasts on event outcomes through prediction markets. For a soccer tournament, that is a huge figure, especially compared with the previous World Cup.

In 2022, official U.S. sportsbooks accepted roughly $1.8 billion in wagers on World Cup matches. In other words, the new tournament could significantly surpass the previous result even before all activity on prediction markets is counted.

There are several reasons for this jump. First, World Cup 2026 itself will be bigger: instead of 32 national teams, 48 will play, and the schedule will expand from 64 to 104 matches. More games mean more markets, more live betting, and more reasons for casual audiences to open an app for at least one match.

Second, the tournament will be more convenient for American viewers because of the broadcast times. These will not be late-night matches watched only by the most dedicated fans, but full prime-time slots for a broad audience. For sportsbooks, that factor often matters no less than the status of the tournament.

There is also a third point: legal sports betting has launched in new states over the past few years, so the potential player base has grown wider. The World Cup will arrive in a very different market than it did in 2022, when some states had not yet been connected to the legal betting infrastructure.

Surveys also show strong interest. More than 64% of residents in regions where sports betting is permitted plan to place wagers on World Cup 2026 matches. Nearly one-third of respondents also admitted that they plan to place their first bet specifically because of the tournament. This is an important detail: the championship could work not only as a source of handle, but also as an entry point for a new audience.

Among the states that will host tournament matches and where gambling is legal, the highest fan spending is forecast in New York and New Jersey. New York is expected to generate around $255.3 million, while New Jersey is projected at roughly $222.6 million.

If the forecasts prove accurate, World Cup 2026 will be a rare case where a soccer tournament seriously competes with the biggest American betting events. For the United States, it will test not only interest in soccer, but also how quickly the betting market can scale around global sport.