Spain may have lifted the World Cup trophy, but in the betting industry Bet Builder retained its crown as one of the top products.
With the tournament now over, operators, suppliers, and FIFA itself are releasing data detailing betting trading throughout the month-and-a-half-long event – which as always captivated bettor attention.
DATA.BET, a Cyprus-based betting technology supplier, found that bet builders were widely used by punters, who were often keen to build “increasingly detailed combinations” combining corners, yellow cards, and goalscorer markets.
Unsurprisingly, Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé, Erling Haaland, and Harry Kane were regular goalscorers featuring in punters’ betslips – something many operators speaking to SBC News’ World Cup Betting Tour expected.
Aside from bet builders, pre-match betting was hugely popular. DATA.BET found that 63% of its overall turnover was made via pre-match bets, with live markets holding the 37% share.
The firm added that this share remained “remarkably consistent” throughout the tournament.
Additionally, stat-based markets accounted for 11% of total turnover with total corners the most popular stat market, ranking 10th overall by stake on DATA.BET’s platform.
“The scale wasn’t just visible on the pitch — it showed in our numbers too,” said Yevhenii Ilchenko, Head of Sports at DATA.BET.
“The combined betting turnover of the FIFA World Cup 2026 and the Intel Extreme Masters Cologne Major 2026 was split 58.5% to 41.5% in favor of the World Cup,”
Lastly, team markets saw France – one of the big favourites to lift the trophy before ultimately being knocked out by eventual winners Spain in the semi final – generate the highest takes.
Spain, runners-up Argentina, and third placed England were also heavily staked on, as was Belgium. Collectively, the top five teams accounted for 36.5% of total stakes.
“What made this World Cup stand out wasn’t one number — it was how consistently engaged bettors stayed for six straight weeks, till the final,” said Ilchenko.