Altenar report: Bet Builders took 39.6% of World Cup 2026 single bets, up from 20.28% at Euro 2024

Altenar’s latest report gives sportsbook operators a clean read on how football betting shifted during World Cup 2026: more Bet Builders, bigger stakes as the tournament tightened up, and a heavy pull toward player markets. For PSPs and acquirers serving sports betting, the useful bit is simple — higher-intent formats and later-stage matches drove materially more wagering activity.

1. Bet Builders accounted for 39.6% of all single bets during World Cup 2026, compared with 20.28% at Euro 2024. Altenar says the report tracks the rising popularity of multi-selection betting and looks at which matches saw the format used most heavily.
2. Bet sizes increased as the tournament moved into the business end. Average stakes rose from roughly 3–5 € in the group stage to 10–13 € in the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final, which points to stronger engagement around the biggest fixtures.
3. Player markets were another clear growth area. Altenar says turnover in Player Special markets reached around 400% of its Euro 2024 level, driven largely by interest in the tournament’s biggest names.
4. The report also covers singles and multis, market preferences, match-level turnover, direct markets and goalscorer bets, as well as the link between bettor sentiment and tournament outcomes. In other words, it is not just about what people bet on, but when and why they shift their spend.
5. Thanos Ntakis, Account Management Director at Altenar, said the data shows how betting behavior evolved across the tournament, from the growth of Bet Builders to the sharp increase in betting around decisive matches. He framed Altenar’s sportsbook depth and market flexibility as the tools operators need to respond as those opportunities appear.

For high-risk operators, the operational message is straightforward: major football tournaments concentrate volume in later-round fixtures, and product mix matters. Bet Builders and player props are doing more of the work than plain singles, which has implications for pricing, risk, and payment throughput when the big games arrive.