Belgian Gambling Commission reports €442.57m in World Cup bets

Belgium's Gambling Commission (Kansspelcommissie) reported €442.57m in sports betting stakes during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which was held from 11 June to 19 July 2026 in Canada, Mexico and the United States, according to the commission's report. The figure compares with €324.42m during the 2024 European Championship and €279.04m during the 2022 World Cup. Gross gaming revenue for the tournament period was €58.18m, against €47.41m in 2024 and €39.77m in 2022, while winnings paid to players amounted to €384.40m.

Online stakes reached €402.90m, up 51.2% on the 2024 European Championship and 85.5% on the 2022 World Cup, the commission said. Average daily online stakes rose from €8.60m in 2024 to €10.33m in 2026, an increase of 20.2%. Online GGR was €49.72m, against €32.79m in 2024, a rise of 51.6%. More than 30.1 million online tickets were purchased, compared with 12.7 million in 2024, an increase of 136%, while the average stake per ticket fell from €20.93 to €13.38, a decrease of 36.1%. Online winnings reached €353.18m, with a return-to-player rate of 87.7%, which the commission described as broadly unchanged from the 2024 European Championship.

Land-based stakes were €39.68m, against €57.92m in 2024 and €61.85m in 2022, declines of 31.5% and 35.9% respectively. Average daily land-based stakes fell to €1.02m, down 45.6% on 2024 and 52.3% on 2022. Land-based GGR fell from €14.62m in 2024 to €8.46m, a decrease of 42.3%. The number of tickets sold in physical outlets was 3.25 million, down 9.5% on the 2024 European Championship, and the average amount per ticket fell from €16.14 to €12.21. The online channel accounted for about 91% of total sports betting stakes during the tournament, according to the report.

For the first time, the commission separated bets placed directly on World Cup matches from other sports betting in the same period. Online bets on tournament matches reached €224.01m, or 55.6% of total online sports betting stakes, generating GGR of €33.19m, equal to 66.7% of online gross margin during the competition. In the land-based channel, bets directly linked to the World Cup produced stakes of €19.38m and GGR of €4.26m. Overall, bets on World Cup matches reached about €243.39m, with GGR of €37.44m.

In the 10 days before the tournament, the Belgian market averaged 491 new online players a day; during the tournament the figure rose to 822, an increase of 67.4%, before falling to an average of 236 new daily players from 20 to 31 July. A total of 32,050 new online players were recorded during the tournament, against 31,481 during the 2024 European Championship and 43,122 during the 2022 World Cup. New gaming accounts reached 142,859, against 108,029 in 2024, with the daily average rising from 2,981 before the competition to 3,663 during it, a rise of 22.9%. The commission noted that the number of accounts does not necessarily match the number of new players, because one person may register with several licensed operators.

The average number of daily active online players rose from 191,872 before the tournament to 243,701 during it, an increase of 27%. Belgium's national team matches produced the highest peaks: on 15 June, the day of the match against Egypt, 295,090 active online players and 8,428 new accounts were recorded. Of the new online players, 43.6% were aged 21 to 29 and 21% were aged 30 to 39, meaning almost two in three new players were between 21 and 39. The commission noted that since 1 September 2024 the minimum age for gambling and betting in Belgium has been 21. Among active online players during the tournament, 75.03% were male, 22.75% female and 2.22% registered in category X. By region, 49.47% of activity was attributable to Flanders, 40.47% to Wallonia and 10.06% to the Brussels region, based on data with available geographic attribution.

On player protection, 1,835 voluntary self-exclusion requests were submitted during the World Cup, an average of 47 a day, below the 63 recorded in the 10 days before the tournament. Requests to revoke self-exclusion totalled 690, with the daily average rising from 24 to 26 and a peak of 44 on 15 June, the day of Belgium's first match. A revocation does not take effect immediately: Belgian rules provide for a period of three months from registration of the request. Blocked access attempts through EPIS, the Belgian electronic system identifying excluded individuals, averaged 6,910 a day during the tournament, against 6,022 in the preceding period; most concerned online access attempts, at 6,779 a day. The authority said these figures refer to access attempts rather than the number of people involved, and cover the entire legal gambling offer, not only sports betting.

On advertising by licensed operators, 14 of 18 checks found irregularities; nine situations were regularised and four files were forwarded to the unit responsible for sanctions. The commission paid particular attention to outdoor advertising and operators' use of secondary brands. On 12 June it asked all licensees to exercise the utmost caution in commercial communications during the World Cup, requesting that they voluntarily avoid promoting sub-brands in public spaces. The largest part of the activity concerned advertisements by illegal operators on Meta platforms: the authority identified 733 non-compliant advertisements and requested their removal. All requests were granted and the advertisements were removed, in almost all cases within one to five days of being reported. The commission described cooperation with Meta as positive but noted the difficulty of countering a phenomenon marked by the continuous creation of new profiles and advertising campaigns, and said the advertisements identified probably represent only part of the illegal content actually distributed to the Belgian public.