The World Cup kicks off Thursday in Mexico and in Canada and the U.S. Friday, marking the second time that America has hosted the showpiece of “the beautiful game.” Mexico is hosting the World Cup for a record third time, after the 1970 and 1986 competitions, while Canada makes its debut as a tournament host.
While World Cup fever will thrust the game’s biggest stars into the spotlight, advisors and their clients can also find potential winners in gambling-related equities over the coming weeks, according to Chad Beynon, senior gaming, lodging & theatres analyst at Macquarie.
There are plenty of milestones in the 2026 World Cup – it is the first to be hosted across three countries and will feature significantly more teams and more games than previous tournaments. Some 48 teams are competing for the most coveted prize in world soccer, up from 32 teams at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The tournament will feature 104 matches, a big jump from 64 in Qatar.
The fact that the 2026 World Cup is taking place in a more scaled U.S. sports betting market where more of the population has access to legal betting that in 2022 is a positive for gambling companies Flutter Entertainment plc (Ticker: FLUT) (which is the parent company of FanDuel), DraftKings Inc. (Ticker: DKNG), and Rush Street Interactive Inc. (Ticker: RSI), according to Macquarie’s Beynon, in a recent note. The analyst also notes that 88% of digital gaming company Super Group Ltd.’s (Ticker: SGHC) global revenue in 2025 was derived from countries participating in the tournament.
The tournament’s expanded format combined with strong representation from key betting markets in Europe, Latam, Africa, and North America, should lead to record global wagering activity and a financial tailwind for online gambling companies, Beynon said, in a note.
Set against this backdrop, Flutter Entertainment shares have climbed 11.6% over the last month, while DraftKings’ stock is up 12.8%, compared with the S&P 500 index’s decline of 1.8%. Shares of Rush Street Interactive have risen 3.9% and Super Group’s stock is up 4.9% over the same period.
Global wagers on the 2022 World Cup exceeded $35 billion, a figure that could exceed $50 billion for this summer’s tournament, according to Macquarie, with upside from parlays and prop bets on players.
From a U.S. gaming perspective, the tournament represents the first World Cup with broad national participation and improved depth of gambling products, according to Beynon, who cites same-game parlays, live betting, and soccer-specific innovations. “Given relatively low baseline soccer engagement within their existing customer bases (unlike int'l markets), the tournament has the potential to introduce new behaviors and incremental wagering, further supported by North America hosting, favorable time zones, and improved product depth,” he added.
The tournament kicks off Thursday when Mexico takes on South Africa in the cauldron of the Mexico City stadium (better known as the iconic Azteca Stadium, or Estadio Banorte). Canada and the U.S. start their World Cup campaigns Friday, with the former taking on Bosnia and Herzegovina in Toronto and Mauricio Pochettino’s Americans facing Paraguay in Los Angeles. The World Cup winners will be crowned on July 19 at New York New Jersey stadium, or as it is better known, MetLife stadium (stadiums are being renamed for the tournament to comply with FIFA’s sponsorship rules).
Spain is currently the favorite to lift the trophy, followed by France, England, Portugal, and Brazil, according to Fanduel Sportsbook.
It's not just gambling companies that are well positioned for the summer of sports. Sports data companies Genius Sports Limited (Ticker: GENI) and Sportradar Group AG (Ticker: SRAD), which this week announced a deal with Kalshi on data for Major League Soccer (MLS), Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Hockey League (NHL), and UFC, are also reaping the benefits of momentum in prediction markets, according to Macquarie, in a separate note.
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