World Cup Betting: Different Game, Same Parlay Preferences

IMAGN/Brant James illustration

It’s the same game worldwide. But how fans consume soccer varies locally. And so does how they bet on it.

With the start of the World Cup about a month away, and with Americans in every jurisdiction able to wager on it either with state-regulated sportsbooks (betting is legal in five of the 11 U.S. cities hosting games) or prediction markets, gambling companies are likely to take a hint from their customers’ existing habits.

Darren Small, Sportradar SVP of managed trading services, told InGame the expectation is that Americans will want to pile legs into parlays, specifically of the same-game variety, when the 48-team tournament commences in North America on June 11.

So when the U.S. Men’s National Team kicks off June 12 in Los Angeles, expect greater interest in betting on markets such as whether Christian Pulisic scores, with which body part, and on an American clean sheet rather than wagering on straight moneyline odds for a victory over Paraguay.

“I think the activation around player props and the player markets will be something that will certainly be a push this year,” Small said. “I think there’s going to be a lot more of that. And that’s partly driven by the U.S. itself. The way that the U.S. market’s turned itself toward these player props and the way that people are potentially more interested in player performances than potentially even the whole team is certainly moving its way across into other sports as well. So we expect player props and custom bets and [SGPs] to be a significant part of this tournament this year.”

DraftKings 20% Soccer SGP boost pic.twitter.com/4eVcIKh8Kb

— Moonshot Magician (@MoonshotMagic) February 14, 2026

BetMGM Trading Manager Seamus Magee said with games in time zones favorable for viewing, and therefore betting, a “really big handle” is expected on the World Cup, stoked partly by SGPs.

“SGPs for sure, could definitely — will definitely — see a bigger uptick than we’re used to, traditionally, for soccer markets,” he said.

Cornering the market a local endeavor

Each market, even mature ones like the United Kingdom, has idiosyncracies. Bettors there love wagering on the number of corner kicks in a game. Those in another country, like Austria, which Small used for comparison? Not so much.

“For many, many years, the betting on the number of corners in a soccer match has been quite a big thing,” Small said of the U.K. “I don’t know why, but we just love corners. It was always a thing that you saw was on offer. I’ve been in the industry for a long time, so this goes back 25 years, but there was never a big play in Austria.

“But we still consume the same matches, we still consume the same who wins the match. But there were all these little intricacies that just ignited in different demographics and different areas. So we expect the same thing to be the case.”

It’s a predictable phenomenon domestically, sportsbook operations consultant Robert Walker said.

“I think it has always been clear,” Walker told InGame. “People like to bet a little to win a lot. That equation has never changed. Instead of betting three $10 straight bets, they bet one $10 wager on a difficult but potentially more lucrative payout.

“I think they feel they lose less, even though they are most likely betting into a 15%-50% negative hold. And the more teams they bet, the worse off they are.”

Do it live, do it granular

American sports bettors are defining themselves as patrons of parlays and in-game wagering. According to InGame research, in states that report parlays as a percentage of handle, multi-leg bets comprise more than 30% of the amount wagered. A Wall Street Journal survey in November of 2,500 bettors found that 41% listed SGPs as their favorite way to gamble.

A Sportradar analysis released in September, meanwhile, reported that almost 50% of sports betting handle in the United States was from bets made during games.

One tournament, 63 matches, new opportunities to engage with the world’s most popular betting sport.
With the @FIFA Club World Cup now underway, Rainer Lichtmannegger, SVP Sports Content Products, shares how operators can optimise their football betting offerings. #FIFACWC pic.twitter.com/ngv60l5r2l

— Sportradar (@Sportradar) June 16, 2025

Magee said BetMGM is planning to expand its SGP-eligible soccer markets for the World Cup, but bettors will be limited by what individual states allow. Markets such as ones for accrued yellow or red cards have been deemed integrity concerns in some jurisdictions.

“Shots on target is another player prop people can target,” Magee said. “And then, corners is another thing people like to bet on. They like to throw in the SGPs over/under, 8.5 corners in a game, team corners, et cetera. I think people, especially for people who aren’t used to watching much soccer, they’ll watch a few games, they’ll kind of get the gist of it, what you can bet on, and then we’ll definitely start seeing more SGPs roll in.”

Sportradar provides raw betting data — officially licensed from numerous leagues and sanctioning bodies including FIFA — and odds to sportsbooks, which can choose to use either the pre-packaged markets or design their own. The Swiss company provides more than 200 in-play markets on soccer.

Hard Rock Digital Communications Specialist Tim Williams told InGame that his company’s sportsbook is also expecting “prop-heavy” demand, and it will offer micro markets such as shots on target, passes, tackles, and saves, with most of them remaining live during game play. Hard Rock also introduced a feature that transfers goal-scorer prop bets to that player’s replacement if they leave the game.

Narrative and profit under SGPs

Small believes that bettors “tend to love to think that they can predict a full narrative,” which some industry experts believe entices casual bettors who otherwise might not be willing to invest.

“Anyone can have a go at that,” Small said of betting on obscure, almost random outcomes. “If I can say who’s going to win this match, and Harry Kane’s going to score with his left foot, and there’s going to be six corners, and I think there’s going to be two yellow cards in the game to the home team, all of a sudden that becomes a really cool thing to say that I’ve predicted. And then you’ve won a significant amount of money. And I think customers like getting into that type of narrative storytelling, particularly around big events like this.”

Sportsbooks hope this lures the sort of occasional bettors who show up for “tentpole” events like the Super Bowl or the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. Most sportsbooks, Walker noted, “are spending millions trying to retain these players” because of their profitability. But an Optimove study laid out the difficulty in retaining big-event dabblers.

“You’re going to see a lot of first-time soccer bettors who really enjoy SGPs on a Monday Night Football game,” Magee said. “And they’re going to be out, they’ll be watching a game, and they’re going to be looking for a parlay.

“I think it’s a little tough to quantify in terms of [handle] spliit what we’ll see on this, but I imagine we’re going to see a higher SGP handle on soccer for the World Cup than we’re usually used to.”