Spain lifted the trophy at MetLife Stadium on July 19, beating Argentina 1-0 in the first World Cup final on American soil in a generation. The bigger story for the gaming industry was written at the betting window. Hard Rock Bet's sportsbook chief Neil Walsh said before the final that the tournament "will go down as the biggest betting event in American history, we're talking the equivalent of ten Super Bowls."
The Numbers Behind the Record
For scale, Americans wagered about 1.76 billion dollars on Super Bowl LX according to the American Gaming Association. Analysts at Eilers and Krejcik Gaming projected between 2.3 and 4.3 billion dollars in regulated US handle across the tournament's 104 matches before it began, roughly triple the 900 million to 1 billion dollars Americans put on the 2022 tournament in Qatar. The expanded 48 team format added 40 extra matches, and home soil kickoff times meant Americans could bet lunchtime and prime time games instead of overnight ones.
The firm projected DraftKings alone would take about 1.02 billion dollars in World Cup handle, with FanDuel close behind at roughly 945 million. American bettors drove five of the twenty most wagered matches of the tournament even in rounds where the US team had already gone home.
Prediction Markets Crashed the Party
A tournament this size also showcased the industry's newest players. Fanatics partnered with the tournament's official prediction market operator on a co branded World Cup trading hub available in 23 states and four territories, putting event contracts in front of mainstream sports fans at exactly the moment state regulated books were setting records. Our report on the California tribes' court fight with Kalshi explains why that development matters most in states without their own regulated markets.
The California Sized Hole in the Record
Here is the remarkable part. The biggest betting event in American history happened with the country's largest state contributing nothing to the regulated total. California has no state licensed sportsbooks, so the record was built across 39 other states while roughly one in eight Americans watched from the outside. Californians who bet the tournament did it through offshore sportsbooks, prediction market apps, or friends in Nevada and Arizona.
That gap is not lost on the state's tribes, who confirmed this month that they are preparing a 2028 ballot initiative for a tribally led online wagering market. A World Cup sized demonstration of demand, and of the tax revenue and consumer protections California passed up, may be the strongest campaign material they could ask for.
What California Bettors Can Take From It
Until the ballot question is settled, the practical options for Californians remain what they were during the tournament. Our guide to the best California sports betting sites covers the offshore books that served the state's World Cup action, and our World Cup betting page has moved into post tournament mode with final results and payout recaps. The American Gaming Association publishes the industry totals as they are finalized.
