Beginning on November 20, 2022, the entire world converged onto the country of Qatar where the 2022 FIFA World Cup began. With 32 countries in representation, only one would emerge as the champion. That would be Argentina’s La Albiceleste, winning in penalty kicks over France in one of the most exhilarating finals in World Cup history.
Countries and teams were placed into eight different draws, each consisting of four different teams with the top two teams advancing to the knockout rounds. Altogether, including the championship match, the World Cup had five stages and 64 games played.
In the ever-increasing world of sports betting, the 2022 World Cup brought in millions of bettors from around the world. Forbes predicted bettors would wager $160 billion between November 20 and December 18, including $1.8 billion coming from the United States. Most of the participating countries, along with many more, have legalized gambling, giving the World Cup one of the largest betting volumes of any sporting event.
Countries Where Betting on the World Cup is Allowed
With so many countries around the world, only a limited amount have legalized sports betting. Regardless of whether it is legal in any given country, it’s always best to check the local laws and regulations regarding sports betting. The following is a list of countries where sports betting is legal:
- Australia
- Bahrain
- Bangladesh
- Canada
- China
- Hong Kong
- India
- Ireland
- Japan
- South Korea
- Macau
- Malaysia
- New Zealand
- Nigeria
- Pakistan
- Qatar
- Singapore
- South Africa
- Spain
- Thailand
- United Kingdom
- United States
- UAE (United Arab Emirates)
- Taiwan
A Brief History of Sports Betting in the US
If you’re in one of the US’s legal sports betting states, you had the opportunity to bet legally on the World Cup for the first time ever. For anyone that knows a little about sports betting in the US, you’d know that gambling on the world cup, legally, is a shock.
See, gambling became legal in the country in 1931, but only in Nevada. Of course, that’s what made Vegas aptly known as Sin City, a place where vices were welcome and your secrets stayed in town.
Fast forward to the 2000s and the US began radically changing its views on gambling due to the eruption of online sportsbooks. The industry would get stifled by the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, a law that restricted a variety of different payment methods, thus driving many of these sportsbooks away.
Many of these online sportsbooks didn’t disappear, but rather relocated and became legal offshore gambling sites. By doing so, they were able to establish and maintain their clientele in the US.
It was in 2018, with New Jersey leading the charge, that a handful of states rallied against the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) as being unconstitutional. Congress would agree and with the Sports Wagering Market Integrity Act of 2018, sports betting in the US entered into a brand new phase, one in which many American residents had legal access to sports betting, both online and in-person.
Some US Residents Have First Chance to Bet on World Cup Legally
The question many of you are probably asking is what states can one legally bet on sports? At this time, more than two dozen states have legalized sports betting, however, some of those only allow in-person sports betting. Below is a list of states where sports betting is currently legal.
Legal Online and In-Person:
- Arizona
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Louisiana
- Maryland
- Michigan
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New York
- Ohio (beginning Jan. 1, 2023)
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- Virginia
- Washington DC
- West Virginia
Online-Only:
- Tennessee
- Wyoming
In-Person Only:
- Arkansas
- Delaware
- Mississippi
- Montana
- New Mexico
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- South Dakota
- Washington
World Cup a Huge Boon for US Bettors
According to OpenBet, there was an 18% increase in betting globally from the 2018 World Cup in Russia to the 2022 one in Qatar. While it’s hard to determine how much was bet on the 2018 World Cup in the US, Canada saw a 21% increase in bets for the 2022 soccer tournament.
In the US, more than half of Americans had access to legalized betting for the 2022 World Cup. For OpenBet, the World Cup marked a 200% betting increase over the most recent March Madness Tournament, which speaks volumes about the US’s growing interest in soccer. On that note, the US/England game would become the “most bet-on soccer event in US history,” as quoted in Fox Sport by BetMGM’s vice president of trading, Jason Scott.
While it will be another four years until the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North America, chances are high that US bettors will place more money on that event, especially as more states plan to legalize sports betting over the next few years. Stay tuned!