September 23, 2026
New figures from football odds supplier WSF Odds show how the 48-team World Cup changed betting behaviour: monthly turnover up around 68%, player props rising to 14.2% of turnover and 20.9% of GGR, and a brand-new Combo product taking 19% of GGR in its first tournament. The question now is whether the habit survives into club football.
Two months after Spain captain Rodri lifted the trophy, football has moved on to domestic leagues — but sportsbooks are still working through what the biggest betting event in history taught them. One of the clearest answers so far comes from WSF Odds, and it is this: during the World Cup, bettors increasingly stopped asking only who will win and started betting on what will happen on the pitch.
WSF Odds supplies pre-match and live football odds — player, team and match props — to operators in more than 30 countries across 99 competitions. Its clients include Betclic, Betsson and Tipsport, alongside distribution partners such as Altenar, which gives its aggregated data a wide view across markets.
Oct 2025 – May 2026 (8 months): €389m turnover, €61.4m GGR
June – July 2026 (2 months): €163.8m turnover, €27.1m GGR
Monthly average vs before: turnover ~68% higher, GGR ~76% higher
Overall margin: up from 15.8% to 16.5%
Player props: 10.4% → 14.2% of turnover; 15.4% → 20.9% of GGR
Goalscorer markets: 28.8% → 29.4% of turnover
New Combo markets: ~€20.3m turnover, just over €5m GGR in their first tournament
Bigger tournament, bigger month
With 48 teams and 104 matches across 39 days, this was always going to be a record. Pre-tournament talk of $500m wagered globally on every single game could never be verified, but the WSF Odds figures show the scale in a way that can be checked against a baseline.
Across the eight months before the tournament, its products generated €389m in turnover. In June and July alone, turnover reached €163.8m. On a monthly basis, that is roughly two-thirds more money staked — and, because margins rose slightly too, around three-quarters more revenue for operators.
The goalscorer bet is not going anywhere
The first finding is a reassuring one for traditional markets. Punters did not abandon the classics: goalscorer bets actually edged up, from 28.8% to 29.4% of turnover. What changed was how many ways there now are to place one.
WSF Odds now lists 42 goalscorer markets, from the standard anytime bet to formats such as Supersub (a goal from a substitute) and method-of-goal (header, penalty, outside the box). The core question stays the same — who scores? — but it can now be layered with when, how, from where and how much the goal matters.
Player props take a bigger slice
The clearest shift was in player props, continuing a trend already visible at Euro 2024. Their share of turnover rose from 10.4% to 14.2%, and their share of GGR from 15.4% to 20.9%, with the margin on these markets holding at a healthy 24.3% (up from 23.5%).
Team and match markets remained the biggest category, at roughly 44% of turnover and 36% of GGR. Within them, shots were the stand-out:
- €30.8m — team and match shots
- €22.6m — team and match shots on target
- €12.2m turnover / €2.2m GGR — player shots on target, the largest single player-performance market
- Meaningful activity also in player assists, player shots and player cards
A 24% margin on player props versus roughly 16% across the whole book means these markets are considerably more profitable for the house. For bettors, that translates into a bigger built-in edge against them. Props can be great fun and reward genuine knowledge of individual players — but it is worth comparing prices, because the gap between a fair price and the one on offer is usually wider here than on a simple match result.
Why upsets push bettors toward performance markets
This was a tournament of shocks — Germany beaten by Paraguay, Norway knocking over Brazil. WSF Odds sales director Sam Hill argues that is exactly the environment in which performance markets thrive.
In knockout football, evenly matched sides can be separated by one goal, one red card or one moment in extra time, so predicting the winner feels like a coin flip. But a fan may still have a strong view on which team will dominate the shot count, whether a striker will test the keeper repeatedly, or whether a full-back facing a fast winger is heading for a booking. Performance markets let bettors back that read of the game rather than gamble on the final score — and keep them following every phase of the match.
Combo: a ready-made bet builder, tested on the biggest stage
The World Cup was also the debut tournament for WSF Odds' Combo markets — pre-built multi-selection bets within a single match. They are aimed at operators that lack a full live Bet Builder, and at bettors who want a quick, ready-assembled selection.
The first test went well: around €20.3m in turnover and just over €5m in GGR — about 12% of turnover but 19% of revenue. Celleno called the uptake encouraging, saying it showed customers were comfortable combining several views of the same match in one bet. As with props, the revenue share running well ahead of the turnover share is a reminder that combined bets carry a larger built-in margin.
From casual viewers to club football
The tournament also pulled in a wave of newcomers. A separate study by Optimove found first-time bettor deposits during the group stage jumped by 171% in the United States, 200% in the EU and 300% in Latin America.
Hill's argument is that a month of wall-to-wall coverage turns casual viewers into people who know players in detail — not just Haaland, Bellingham or Salah by name, but who shoots often, who creates chances, who is likely to pick up a card. Someone who followed Haaland all summer may now watch Manchester City; someone taken with Bellingham may start following Real Madrid. For sportsbooks, the task is to make player markets easy to find rather than burying them deep in a long menu.
Tournament blip or lasting habit?
WSF Odds is candid that the real answer is not in yet. The company plans to compare the opening months of the domestic season with both the World Cup and the period before it, watching in particular whether player props hold on to their larger share or slip back to pre-tournament levels. That comparison will show whether the World Cup created a short-lived tournament effect, or whether a new generation of bettors has carried the habit into club football.
The World Cup didn't just bring more money into football betting — it changed where that money went. Goalscorer bets held firm, but player props, shots markets and pre-built combos all grabbed a bigger share, and they earned operators more per euro staked. For bettors, these markets reward real football knowledge, but they also come with fatter margins: know your players, compare prices, and keep stakes within your limits.
Figures are supplier data published by WSF Odds and first-time deposit figures are from Optimove; neither has been independently verified. Gambling involves risk and isn't for everyone — please play responsibly, set your limits, and if it stops being fun, take a break.
