Betting firms report stronger activity at expanded World Cup

Betting industry figures said the expanded 48-team World Cup drew more betting activity than expected, with Darren Small, senior vice president of Managed Trading Services at Sportradar, saying betting ticket volume was up 80% compared with the 2022 tournament. He said the company had seen more bets, more active customers and record numbers, while noting that comparison with 2022 was complicated because that tournament was played in winter.

Small said Sportradar had expected some increase because the tournament had grown to 104 matches, and also because of wider industry growth. For Sunday's final between Spain and defending champions Argentina, he expected Sportradar to handle about 8.5 million betting tickets for its 250 bookmaking clients worldwide. Sportradar describes itself as a global sports technology company serving sports fans and bettors.

England attracted the highest number of betting tickets, at about 16.3 million. France followed with 15.5 million, Argentina with 15 million and Spain with 14.5 million. The three matches with the highest betting-ticket volume were Argentina's 2-1 semi-final win over England, with about 5.8 million tickets; England's 2-1 quarter-final win over Norway, with 5.7 million; and Spain's 2-0 semi-final win over 2018 champions France, with 5.3 million.

David Stevens, head of public relations at English bookmaker Coral, said the firm's earlier concern that the larger format would lead to many predictable results had not been borne out. He said the group stage produced many results that did not follow betting expectations.

Stevens singled out Cape Verde, saying the team had become popular with bookmakers after holding both Argentina and Spain to draws. Cape Verde later lost 3-2 to Argentina after extra time in the last 32.

Small said betting interest had also been helped by the wide range of markets available, including bets on individual players and detailed match outcomes. FIFA president Gianni Infantino has raised the possibility of expanding the tournament further to 64 teams. Stevens said he would not welcome that, arguing that too many matches could cause fans and bettors to lose interest, while also saying he believed Infantino's influence meant such a change could happen.