World Cup 2026 betting volume could top $50 billion, setting a new record

The 2026 FIFA World Cup could generate up to $50 billion in betting volume, according to a forecast by Sportradar vice president Darren Small and investment bank Macquarie. For PSPs and acquiring teams, the number matters less as a trophy and more as a load test: this is the kind of event that turns traffic spikes, payment failures, and fraud controls into a live operational problem.

1. Sportradar and Macquarie put the total at $50 billion, which would be a new all-time high for football World Cups. That forecast sits above Barclays’ earlier $35 billion estimate published in 2026.
2. The growth story in the source is straightforward: more legalized betting markets, more mobile traffic, and crypto. In practice, that means more payment methods in play at once, and more pressure on orchestration when bettors switch between cards, local wallets, and crypto deposits.
3. The source says betting traffic during World Cup matches can rise by 5–10 times. For payment stacks, that is the part that matters operationally: gateways, risk engines, and downstream processors need to handle spikes without dropping approvals or creating bottlenecks.
4. The geographic mix is also broad: Europe, LatAm, Asia, and North America are identified as the main markets, with Brazil the leader in LatAm. That points to a need for multi-currency orchestration rather than a single-market setup.
5. On the channel side, the source says more than 80% of bets go through apps, and that crypto deposits in USDT and USDC are growing, especially in “gray” jurisdictions. For PSPs, that means mobile-first payment flows and crypto rails are no longer edge cases in sportsbook traffic.

The Brazil context in the source is a useful reminder of how concentrated sports betting demand can be. A Grupo Globo and Offerwise study found that 77% bet regularly on Brasileirão, 61% on the Copa do Brasil, 45% on the Copa Libertadores, 40% on the UEFA Champions League, and 38% on the World Cup, even though it happens only once every four years.

The same source warns that if payment methods are not properly orchestrated, approval rates can fall by 20–30% during peak hours. It also says regulators tighten monitoring during major tournaments, so AML controls and fraud scoring rules need to be ready for sports traffic rather than generic volume.