Sportsbooks say World Cup betting has surged past expectations, with US hype driving action 

United States’ Sebastian Berhalter (14) celebrates scoring his side’s second goal against Turkey during the World Cup Group D soccer match in Inglewood, Calif., near Los Angeles, June 25 [AP Photo]

Sportsbook operators anticipated this year’s World Cup would set betting records because the major elements were aligned.

The world’s most popular sporting event is being played in North America, so U.S. audiences can see the games live while the sun is out or in the early evening. The U.S. also has a team that may be its most talented in history.

And then the U.S. went out and won its first two matches to capture its group.

“I think it has exceeded our expectations,” said Mark Bickerdike, Caesars Sportsbook’s head of soccer trading, said of the money being bet.

DraftKings Sportsbook director Johnny Avello said the wagering on the 48-team World Cup, which opened the knockout stage on Sunday, is putting itself in the same company as the always popular NCAA Tournament in college basketball.

“It could be the biggest event of the year when it’s all said and done,” Avello said. “March Madness takes place over the course of three weeks, and it rakes quite a bit of money. This is getting there.

“It blows the Super Bowl away. One game, one day. This thing here is way bigger than that.”

Christian Cipollini, BetMGM Sportsbook’s trading manager, said the enormous interest in the U.S. team has only grown. The Americans open the single-elimination phase of the tournament on Wednesday night against Bosnia-Herzegovina in Santa Clara, California.

“I expect that to be BetMGM’s most bet-on soccer game of all time,” Cipollini said. “In this World Cup, all three of our most bet-on games have been the three USA games. This game is leading up to be a perfect storm where the USA looks very good. There’s a lot of hype around the team.”

France and Argentina on a collision course?

The three sportsbooks list Kylian Mbappé-led France as the favorite to win it all, with Lionel Messi and defending champion Argentina not far behind. They are on opposite sides of the bracket, so if they face each other, it would be in the final, a rematch of four years ago.

At BetMGM, 15.3% of tickets have been on France, the most of any country, and it has received 20.4% of the money. That is slightly below Spain, which has taken in 20.5% of the handle, much if not most of it before the tournament.

Longtime handicapper Bruce Marshall cautioned against assuming France and Argentina would meet in the final.

“I could see seven or eight teams winning this thing,” Marshall said. “So any favorite at this stage, I don’t know that there’s great value there.”

Bettors look for long shots

Americans like a good underdog story, and wagers are coming in on some teams with exceptionally long odds.

“Bettors like to take a shot for a small amount of money and put it on those teams,” Avello said. “Of course, that risk is high for us because it doesn’t take much. A $5 bet on Congo, it’s $5,000 (in a payout). You take quite a few of those and the liability gets up pretty high on them.”

Marshall said it would make sense to take a look at Colombia (33-1 at BetMGM) or Switzerland (66-1) as teams with great value.

“Colombia looks really dangerous, and they’re getting a lot of support,” Marshall said. “They played their first couple of games in Mexico, which were like home games for them. MARK ANDERSON, LAS VEGAS, MDT/AP