WSF Odds data shows World Cup drove surge in football betting turnover

Betting technology supplier WSF Odds has published figures showing how football wagering behaviour shifted during this year's FIFA World Cup, with turnover, revenue and margins all climbing well above pre-tournament levels.

According to the company, which builds pre-match and live odds for player, team and match markets, turnover across its products totalled €389m in the eight months before the tournament, from October 2025 to May 2026, generating €61.4m in gross gaming revenue.

During June and July, when the World Cup was played, turnover reached €163.8m and gross gaming revenue hit €27.1m, according to WSF Odds. That put average monthly turnover roughly 68% higher than the preceding eight-month period, with average monthly revenue up around 76%. Margin also improved, moving from 15.8% before the tournament to 16.5% during it.

WSF Odds supplies markets for 99 football competitions and operates in more than 30 countries across Europe, the Americas, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Oceania. Its dataset for the World Cup draws on operators including Betclic, Betsson and Tipsport, alongside distribution partner Altenar.

The figures indicate that bettors did not turn away from established goalscorer markets during the tournament. That category made up 28.8% of turnover in the eight months before the World Cup and rose slightly to 29.4% during June and July.

WSF Odds product owner Filippo Celleno said the key finding was that appetite for goalscorer betting held firm even as the category expanded. “We did not see bettors abandoning goalscorer markets. We saw the football offer becoming broader around individual players, with more ways to bet on scoring and performance,” he said.

Celleno added that the goalscorer offer now runs to 42 separate markets, spanning the conventional anytime scorer bet through to newer formats such as Supersub and method-of-goal betting, giving operators additional ways to package the same core interest in who scores and how.

Player props also gained ground. Before the tournament they accounted for 10.4% of turnover and 15.4% of gross gaming revenue; during the World Cup those shares rose to 14.2% and 20.9% respectively, while margin on the category edged up from 23.5% to 24.3%.

Team and match markets still made up the largest single slice of activity, contributing around 44% of turnover and 36% of gross gaming revenue in June and July. Within that, team and match shots markets generated roughly €30.8m, and shots on goal markets around €22.6m.

On the player side, shots on goal was the biggest individual performance market, producing about €12.2m in turnover and €2.2m in gross gaming revenue, with notable volumes also recorded in player assists, player shots and player cards markets.

WSF Odds sales director Sam Hill said the popularity of performance markets reflected the unpredictable nature of knockout football, pointing to results such as Germany's defeat by Paraguay and Norway's win over Brazil. “Knockout football is difficult to predict by definition,” Hill said. “Two strong teams can be very evenly matched, and one goal, one red card or one moment in extra time can decide everything.”

Hill said this did not mean bettors had no view on a match, noting they might still expect one side to generate more shots, a striker to test the goalkeeper repeatedly, or a defender to pick up fouls against a particular opponent. He said performance markets let bettors engage with a game through individual actions rather than relying solely on the final result, giving operators a further category to build alongside their core goalscorer and match-outcome offer.