The electric World Cup final between Argentina and France on Dec. 18 was one of the most wagered-on sporting events in the U.S. this year.
Argentina’s victory over France on penalty kicks to capture its first World Cup since 1986 generated 7.9 million geolocation transactions, according to fraud and geolocation specialist GeoComply.
- The World Cup was the second most wagered-on final behind Super Bowl LVI, which had 23.5 million geolocation checks in the Los Angeles Rams’ 23-20 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.
- The men’s NCAA tournament championship, which saw Kansas edge North Carolina 72-69 — had 4.8 million geolocation transactions.
- The final game of the NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors had 5.1 million geolocation checks.
The desire for sports fans to wager on the World Cup final came amid record viewership.
The match drew 16.8 million viewers for the telecast on FOX — the most watched men’s World Cup game on English-language American television ever.
Spanish-language coverage on Telemundo reportedly drew an additional 5.5 million viewers.
Big Expectations
The 2022 World Cup was projected to see $35 billion in wagers globally over the month-long tournament — a 65% increase compared to four years ago, according to Barclays analysts.
During the 2018 World Cup — which the USMNT didn’t qualify for — sports betting was legal for roughly 10 million Americans while this year’s tournament was legal for 132 million people.
