The current 22nd World Cup, the final part of which takes place from November 20 to December 18 in Qatar, has already become a sensation and not once.
Qatar won the right to host the World Cup back in 2010, beating Australia, Japan, South Korea, and the United States. For the first time in history, the World Cup is held in winter, not summer. It is due to the climate in the host country, where the air temperature in June and July reaches over 40 degrees Celsius.
The hosts of the tournament, held in the Middle East for the first time in its history, spent on it an incredible amount of USD 200-220 billion. Most of these funds were directed to the construction of sports, tourism, and engineering and transport infrastructure. Priority was given to tourism and transport, and funds spent on sports facilities did not amount to more than a third.
I would like to remind you that the approximate revenue from the tournament was estimated by the Qatari authorities at only USD 20 billion. It means that most funds were invested in the future of the tourism and entertainment industry, and the World Cup became just an excuse for such large-scale funding.
World Cup sensations were not long in coming. The loss of Argentina in the qualifying group D to Saudi Arabia was unexpected for both football and betting experts. And although the eyes all the world’s leading bookmakers are on this significant event in the world of sports, and the best specialists are working on calculating the betting balance, no one could predict such a result.
I know that the World Cup is considered the most-rated tournament in terms of interest shown by residents across the globe. For instance, the Flutter Entertainment gambling group, even before the start of the World Cup, identified it as the largest sporting event this year.
According to Flutter Entertainment, betting on matches in the UK alone could reach GBP 300 million. During the previous World Cup in Russia in 2018, FIFA estimated that bets were worth EUR 136 billion (USD 141 billion). Flutter Entertainment expects the current betting revenue to exceed this level.
According to the American Gaming Association (AGA) forecasts, 20.5 million Americans will make bets in the USA during the championship, and betting amount in the USA alone can reach USD 1.8 billion. Americans plan to have fun and test their luck and analytical skills mainly online or with friends in offline establishments.
For instance, 9.8 million gamblers are planning to bet online, and 6 million are going to make a random bet with a friend. Another 4.7 million will come to bookmakers in casinos, and only 4.1 million plan to bet with a separate betting firm.
According to an AGA survey, 78% of gamblers find it important to bet legally. Commenting on the study results, AGA Senior Vice President Casey Clark said: “Because this is the first World Cup where legal sports betting is widely available, it will certainly become the most-viewed soccer event in the US.”
The preparation and holding of the World Cup once again proved that gambling is now perceived as part of the global entertainment industry, where even sports betting is an additional opportunity to spend time with friends while watching football.