World Cup first-time bettors felt under-informed, says Gambling Commission

The 2026 Fifa World Cup attracted people who do not usually bet on football, but many newcomers felt less equipped to make informed decisions than experienced bettors, according to a Gambling Commission survey.

Published on Tuesday, the online survey, conducted by Yonder Consulting after the tournament, analysed responses from 834 UK adults who had placed a World Cup bet. Of an initial sample of 1,000, 166 responses were removed because they contained inconsistent or contradictory answers. 

The final sample comprised 70 new football bettors, 296 occasional bettors and 468 existing bettors.

Six in ten people who bet on football for the first time said they had all the information they needed. The figure was 83% among occasional tournament bettors and 91% among people who regularly bet on football.

The Commission said the findings raised questions about whether betting information is accessible and easy for newcomers to understand. It cautioned that results for first-time bettors should be treated carefully because the group was small.

Questions over promotions

New bettors were also least confident about gambling promotions. Asked whether “acca insurance” meant receiving the full stake back in cash if one leg of an accumulator lost, 80% of new football bettors said they did not know. Half of all respondents selected “don’t know”.

Promotions were commonly used during the tournament. Overall, 37% of respondents said they had used free bets, 22% had used enhanced odds or price boosts and 19% had taken up free bonus offers.

But among respondents who placed a bet linked to an offer, 35% said they had not sought further information before betting. Those who did seek information were most likely to look for details about the odds (34%) or potential winnings (29%).

Relying on instinct or using AI

Across the sample, 58% said they relied on their own knowledge or instinct when choosing bets, making it the most common approach by a wide margin. A further 21% cited the odds or price shown.

New bettors were more likely to say they used no information or bet spontaneously – 29%, compared with 16% of occasional bettors and 8% of existing bettors. They were also more likely to rely on advice from friends, family or colleagues, at 20%, compared with 14% and 10% respectively.

Most respondents said they bet for fun or entertainment (44%), while a third (33%) said they did so to try to win money. Existing bettors were more likely to cite winning money, at 40%, than occasional bettors (25%) or new bettors (21%).

New bettors were more likely to say they wanted to try something new (21%, compared with 3% of occasional bettors and 5% of existing bettors). A further 21% of new bettors said friends, family or colleagues were also betting.

Artificial intelligence was used by 7% of respondents to help decide which bets to place. Use was higher among 18-34-year-olds, at 12%, than among those aged 35 to 54 (6%) and those aged 55 or over (3.5%).

A broader tournament audience

Existing football bettors accounted for 56% of the survey sample. Occasional bettors – people who bet on major tournaments but not regular-season football – made up 35%, while new football bettors represented 8%.

Overall, 71% of respondents were male and 29% female. Some 43% were aged 35 to 54, 31% were 55 or older and 26% were aged 18 to 34.

The World Cup sample was less male and older than the profile of regular football bettors recorded in the Commission’s 2025 Gambling Survey for Great Britain. 

That survey found that 85% of people who had bet on football were male. 

Betting followed England’s progress

Existing bettors were most engaged during the group stage, when 86% placed bets. Occasional bettors were most active in the group stage and semi-finals, at 75% in each phase. New bettors’ participation peaked in the semi-finals, at 59%.

Across all three groups, betting engagement fell for the final and the third-place play-off after England’s semi-final defeat.

Before the final, 42% of respondents had bet only on England matches. That share fell to 25% afterwards. England-only betting was most common among new bettors: 57% said they had bet only on England before the final, compared with 47% of occasional bettors and 37% of existing bettors.

The survey also asked whether the tournament had affected respondents’ likelihood of betting in future. 

Overall, 37% said their World Cup experience made them more likely to bet on future major tournaments, while 19% said it made them more likely to bet on domestic football. 

Revenue does not hit as high as expected

Despite these numbers, after the World Cup, Entain CEO Stella David explained that annual revenue from bettors during the tournament was “not as big as you might think”.

“It’s probably worth about 1% or something like that across the year is really where we would anticipate that to be as an upside. It’s bigger than the Euros, but it’s not as dramatic as you would think” she told analysts in July.

Ed Birkin, managing director of H2 Gambling Capital, believed major sporting events serve more as a customer acquisition tool rather than a key driver of significant incremental revenue. 

“Overall in markets that report it, [the World Cup is] accounting for around 7% of sports turnover,” Birkin told iGB. “However, it really depends on the outcomes of games in terms of what is going to be done.”