$90 billion of the projected $150 billion in 2026 World Cup bets would flow through offshore channels, IFHA says

A new IFHA report says offshore channels would handle $90 billion of the $150 billion expected to be wagered on the 2026 World Cup, and that most of those channels are viewed as illegal. For PSPs and acquirers, the useful part is not the headline number itself but the implication: a large share of demand sits outside monitored banking rails, which means the market is both big and hard to see.

1. The report says monitoring does not see the accounts and transactions behind this market. In other words, if you are trying to map payment flow, risk exposure, or counterparties, the usual visibility tools are missing a chunk of the action.
2. IFHA puts total World Cup betting at $150 billion, with $90 billion of that moving through offshore channels. That leaves offshore traffic as the larger piece of the market in the report’s framing.
3. The report also says the majority of those offshore channels are considered illegal. For payment providers, that matters because the operational problem is not just volume; it is where that volume sits relative to licensing, monitoring, and bank policy.