World Cup 2026 Opens Thursday as US Sportsbooks Brace for Record-Breaking Betting Handle

The 2026 FIFA World Cup officially begins Thursday as Mexico hosts South Africa at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, launching what analysts and operators expect to be the largest betting event in the history of American legal sports gambling. For the first time, the tournament is being played entirely on North American soil — spread across 16 cities in the United States, Mexico, and Canada — giving US bettors something that no previous World Cup ever offered: the ability to bet on matches in their own time zones, legally.

US sportsbooks have been building toward this moment for years, and the numbers being floated are staggering. Gaming research firm Eilers and Krejcik projects a base-case handle of roughly $2.82 billion at legal US sportsbooks, with an upside scenario above $4.3 billion depending on favorable conditions like deep US team runs and strong market-by-market participation. Deutsche Bank separately estimates the US handle at approximately $3.3 billion. Either figure would shatter the country’s previous record for a single sporting event of this kind.

FanDuel and DraftKings Positioned to Lead

The two dominant US sportsbook operators are expected to capture the lion’s share of World Cup action. Deutsche Bank projects fanduel/”>FanDuel will handle approximately $1.3 billion in World Cup wagers, with draftkings/”>DraftKings close behind at around $1.1 billion. Together, they control the majority of the legal US sports betting market, and both have introduced aggressive promotions timed to the tournament’s launch. BetMGM is offering $500,000 in bonus bets to be split every time the United States scores a goal during the competition.

The timing is significant. About 65 percent of the US population now has access to legal sports betting, compared to roughly 40 percent during the 2022 Qatar World Cup. That gap represents tens of millions of potential bettors who are experiencing a legal World Cup market for the first time. Sportradar estimates that 90 percent of Americans who plan to bet on this tournament will be wagering on a World Cup for the first time.

Live betting is widely expected to be the key differentiator. Soccer’s continuous flow lends itself to in-game markets, and US sportsbooks have dramatically expanded their live betting infrastructure since 2022. Same-game parlays, player props, and minute-by-minute markets are all expected to drive engagement across the tournament’s 104 matches.

Prediction Markets Join the Biggest Stage

Traditional sportsbooks are not the only platforms seeing surging interest. prediction markets, led by Kalshi promo code, entered the World Cup cycle with substantial momentum. Kalshi review currently offers nearly 500 unique markets tied to the tournament, and the platform recently recorded a record weekly trading volume of approximately $7 billion across all markets, representing a 13 percent week-over-week increase driven in large part by World Cup interest. DraftKings’ prediction market platform, DraftKings Predictions, also reported $3.1 billion in annualized consumer volume, a 24 percent month-over-month increase.

Spain and France are the co-favorites to lift the trophy, each priced around +450 at major US sportsbooks. England sits at +650 and defending champion Argentina is available at +1000. The United States, playing as a host nation, opens group stage play Friday against Paraguay as a narrow favorite.

The global betting picture is even larger. Macquarie analyst Chad Beynon projects worldwide wagers on the 2026 World Cup could exceed $50 billion, more than 40 percent above the $35 billion estimate for the 2022 tournament. The increase reflects both the expanded legal market in the United States and the overall growth of regulated and unregulated wagering globally across 48 competing nations.

What Comes Next

The group stage runs through late June, with the knockout rounds beginning in early July and the final scheduled for July 19 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. US bettors will be watching closely to see whether the national team can generate momentum deep into the bracket — a deep American run would almost certainly push the handle toward the higher end of projections and further cement the World Cup as a fixture on the American sports betting calendar for years to come.

For sportsbooks, this tournament is less about short-term profitability and more about long-term customer acquisition. Converting casual soccer fans into active bettors during a 39-day event with 104 matches is the kind of engagement opportunity that operators spend years preparing for.