World Cup betting trends: The raise of player markets and Bet Builders

The World Cup delivered five weeks of concentrated betting activity and gave operators a clear view of how sportsbook behaviour is evolving.

Speaking to Charlie Horner on the iGaming Daily podcast, Mark Wilson, Head of Trading, EveryMatrix Sports, highlighted the growth of player-focused betting, Bet Builders, automation and sportsbook uptime, while explaining how those trends can shape product strategy for the new domestic season.

EveryMatrix Sports data from across the tournament underlines the scale of that shift, with the 2026 World Cup generating 2.1x more turnover than Qatar 2022 across an expanded competition featuring 48 teams and 104 matches.

Player markets are changing sportsbook behaviour

One of the clearest trends during the tournament was the growing importance of bets built around individual players.

Traditional markets such as match result, total goals and accumulators remain central to sportsbook activity, but customers are increasingly combining them with player-specific outcomes inside Bet Builders.

That behaviour was especially concentrated around the sport’s biggest names. Half of all Anytime Goalscorer turnover was generated by just five players: Kylian Mbappé, Lionel Messi, Harry Kane, Cristiano Ronaldo and Erling Haaland. Mbappé alone attracted around twice the betting interest of Haaland.

For bookmakers, that can create a different risk profile. A favourite may win, but if heavily backed player outcomes do not happen, the overall result can still be positive for the sportsbook.

“You can get the favourite winning, but if certain things don’t happen in the match, it could still be a very good result for the bookmaker, and we didn’t see that in the past.

“I think during the World Cup we saw a real snapshot of how important this is about key players, how they perform, and what that means for bookmakers.”

Cristiano Ronaldo provided a striking example. Despite the huge betting interest surrounding football’s established icons, his failure to convert that interest into goals produced a 46% margin for EveryMatrix Sports on Ronaldo-related betting.

Star players are driving engagement

Matches involving football’s biggest names generated particularly strong interest.

According to Mark, player markets were becoming comparable in popularity to some traditional core markets.

“It was almost as popular as our sort of key markets. Every game that had these real superstars playing, such a high proportion of the bets involved them, and percentages of stakes that we personally had not seen before.

“We knew Bet Builders were taking off and becoming important, but we saw a real spike during this World Cup that we hadn’t seen before. That was a key learning for us.”

Mark expects the trend to continue as younger audiences build strong connections with the next generation of high-profile footballers.

Bet Builders continue to accelerate

EveryMatrix also recorded a strong increase in Bet Builder activity during the World Cup, alongside significant growth in pre-match player markets.

Customers were not simply using Bet Builders more frequently; they were constructing increasingly complex bets. One in every two pre-match Bet Builder bets featured four or more legs. The share of total turnover generated by these larger combinations increased as the tournament progressed, from 15% during the group stage to 16% in the Round of 32 and 20% in the Round of 16.

That trend carried all the way to the final. Bet Builder bets accounted for 21.5% of total turnover on the World Cup final, while 10% of that activity included at least one player market. Customers were combining team outcomes with individual player performances to create more personalised betting experiences.

At the same time, the proportion of turnover coming from in-play betting dipped slightly. Scheduling may have played a role, but Mark also pointed to the growing strength of the pre-match product.

“We saw a really big increase in Bet Builders, and we saw a really big increase in all kinds of pre-match markets around players and what players will do during the match.

“The pre-match markets that we offer have become so much improved since the last World Cup, with all these new player markets, Bet Builders and featured Bet Builders. We saw a big increase in customers having their bet pre-match, sitting back and watching the game.”

Tournament-wide data supports that shift. 82% of bets were placed on mobile, while 26% were live bets, highlighting both the dominance of mobile betting and the significant role of pre-match engagement during the competition.

The final showed how match narratives create betting opportunities

The World Cup final was the tournament’s biggest betting fixture, generating 50% more turnover than either semi-final.

It also showed how increasingly granular markets can change the economics of a match for operators.

Argentina recorded no shots on target in 90 minutes, while Spain produced significantly more shooting opportunities. EveryMatrix Sports consequently recorded a 100% margin on bets backing Argentina or Argentina players to register a shot on or off target.

Discipline markets told a similar story. Argentina accumulated 20-plus fouls, yet only one bet linked to that outcome proved successful.

These outcomes demonstrate why the expansion of player and event-specific markets matters. A match no longer needs to be assessed purely through the final result: shots, fouls, goalscorers and other individual events can each create their own betting narratives and risk profiles.

Data and automation are shaping the product

EveryMatrix uses betting data to identify popular selections and incorporate them into featured Bet Builders.

Player form, current sporting narratives and wider fan trends can all influence which combinations are surfaced

“We look at the data, look at what’s popular, and then we try and build them in, basically in an automated way for our operators so they’re not spending too much time building them themselves.

“We take inspiration from things like Premier League fantasy competitions, we look at which players are doing particularly well, because customers want to bet on players and things that are newsworthy.”

Uptime remains critical during major events

Product innovation only works if the sportsbook remains available.

“In-play uptime is a key metric for us. We measure it, we look at it, and we need to make sure that we are higher than industry standards.

“During the World Cup it was about 98% uptime, so given all the goings-on and the stoppages, we think that’s very good. But it’s a metric we’re always trying to improve.”

Across the tournament, EveryMatrix Sports averaged 98.2% uptime per round, compared with an industry average of 93%.

That reliability becomes increasingly important as sportsbooks introduce more sophisticated markets that depend on real-time pricing and data.

Applying World Cup learnings to the new season

EveryMatrix is now using the tournament data to refine its sportsbook offering for the domestic season, with featured Bet Builders remaining a major area of focus.

“We’re working now taking those learnings from the World Cup, and the key one was around the Bet Builders and the featured Bet Builders, looking at quite how popular they were and saying: how can we enhance them?

“Can we add more context into them, so we give our users stats on, for instance, the last five games? We know what’s popular and we’ll make sure that’s at the forefront of our offering.”

The broader direction is clear: football betting is becoming increasingly player-led, contextual and product-driven.

Traditional match markets will remain fundamental, but operators that can combine them with relevant player markets, automated Bet Builders, stronger merchandising and reliable platform performance will be better positioned to match how customers increasingly want to bet.

The original version of this article was posted by SBC News.