The USMNT’s run in its home World Cup led to “record soccer betting handle” and allowed American sportsbooks “to profit handsomely when it came to an end,” according to Doug Greenberg of ESPN.com. Monday night’s USMNT loss to Belgium in the Round of 16 “set the record for the most-bet soccer game in the history of several major American sportsbooks,” with BetMGM saying that it had “more bets placed on it than any 2026 College Football Playoff game (excluding the championship), the men’s college basketball national championship game, as well as any championship series game from the NBA, NHL or MLB.” Sportsbooks reported the most-bet soccer record “falling multiple times throughout the tournament dating back to the group stage,” with FanDuel saying that the “first two U.S. games cleared that bar.” American bettors “backed the home team heavily throughout the run on both a game-to-game and future basis,” making Monday night’s loss “ultimately a big win for sportsbooks.” Caesars Sportsbook Head of Soccer Mark Bickerdike noted that “81% of the handle was behind the United States to qualify for the next round” (ESPN.com, 7/7).
SETTING RECORDS: FanDuel said that Monday’s World Cup showdown between the USMNT and Belgium “generated the highest number of active bettors and betting volume of any soccer match ever on the site.” Additionally, “more than twice as many people bet on the game than on the biggest pre-World Cup soccer match on FanDuel.” The total amount bet “surged 72% from what was wagered on the first US match of the tournament” (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 7/7).
PLACE YOUR BETS: BLOOMBERG NEWS’ Bernard Goyder notes that Susquehanna International Group has “lined up” $500M to “work with institutions that want to use prediction markets to hedge the economic risks associated with various World Cup outcomes.” It said in a statement that it will “make the money available to facilitate trades with companies that have a stake in specific teams winning or losing.” Susquehanna Head of Prediction Markets Ric Best said that companies might want to hedge World Cup-related risks “include ‘sponsors, media and broadcast partners, hospitality providers, consumer brands’” (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 7/8).
