Betting interest on the World Cup exploded during the first week of the tournament, fueled by highlight performances from the game’s biggest stars, an impressive opening win by the U.S. that dinged sportsbooks and a flurry of draws that helped the hard-luck bookmakers recover quickly.
Sportsbooks and prediction markets reported record action, as Hard Rock Bet said the betting on the World Cup is on pace to eclipse the Super Bowl and March Madness combined. Saturday, June 13th, which featured Game 5 of the NBA Finals and three World Cup matches, marked the first time prediction market Kalshi surpassed USD 1 billion in volume in a single day. In fact, Kalshi reached the USD 1 billion milestone again on Sunday. DraftKings also touted increased action on its prediction market over the past week.
In the United States, the National Team 4-1 win over Paraguay on Friday was the most-heavily bet match of the first week. BetMGM said the U.S. opener attracted 1.5 times more betting than the next-closest match (Brazil-Morocco). Hard Rock Bet confirmed the match drew more individual bets than any soccer match in company history and was a boon for bettors, with more than 90% of the money wagered on the match backing the Americans at sportsbooks. Since Friday, the U.S. has attracted more bets to win the World Cup than any other team at BetMGM.
The books bounced back in a big way Monday, with all four games on the day ending in draws, including Cape Verde’s stunning 0-0 result against heavily favored Spain. Caesars Sportsbook reported that a bettor in Kentucky won USD 11,646 on a USD 20 four-leg parlay that had all four matches ending in draws Monday. Even so, the sportsbooks had a big day, with bettors, as usual, shying away from betting matches to end in draws.
The betting public backed three superstars to score Tuesday and were rewarded with Lionel Messi, Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappé each finding the net. Messi recorded a hat trick, after being at +1750 to record a hat trick at Caesars Sportsbook. Haaland and Mbappé, who were each odds-on favorites to score, recorded braces Tuesday.
In Hard Rock Bet, France remains the favorite to win the World Cup, listed around 4-1.
On Thursday, the U.S. was a -170 favorite to beat Australia in Friday’s match at DraftKings. Australia was a +340 underdog. U.S. star Christian Pulisic had not been a full participant in training this week, recovering from being kicked in the back of the leg in the Paraguay match. On Wednesday, BetMGM reported that 92% of the money that had been bet on the U.S.-Australia game was on the Americans.
The expectation is that the second week of the World Cup will bring even more betting activity in the United States and around the globe, as it will feature more decisive matches. The atmosphere of tension and passion among fans will continue to build throughout the competition. The outlook for the future is highly promising for sportsbooks in the United States.