Post by Barron's

The 2026 World Cup is set to be the biggest betting event in history: An estimated $50 billion will be wagered globally on the tournament—48 teams in 104 matches over 39 days. In the U.S., local time zones will allow for live betting on matches as they unfold. According to Sportradar, some 90% of Americans planning to bet on the tournament will be wagering on a World Cup for the first time.⁠ ⁠ This month also brings the National Basketball Association Finals, Stanley Cup Finals, and the U.S. Open golf tournament. The betting bonanza will be a boon to sportsbooks, notably the U.S. sports betting duopoly of FanDuel and DraftKings.⁠ ⁠ Beyond those tentpole events, though, the business of sports betting faces an uncertain future. Now that a long run of state legalizations has largely played out, the easy growth looks to be over. Excluding the new market of Missouri, in the first quarter of this year, total U.S. sports wagers, known as the handle, fell 3.1% from a year earlier, according to the American Gaming Association. March represented the steepest drop since June 2020.⁠ ⁠ Read more here: https://trib.al/dlmgrG6 Illustration by R. Kikuo Johnson