A World Cup year is always a big one for bookmakers, for obvious reasons. The 2026 World Cup was no exception, as various PLCs have revealed in Q2 financials, but it’s also one that brings with it a big lesson, in my view.
This lesson from the World Cup is about the changing nature of the game when it comes to football betting, and the considerations this should bring for product development and marketing. The lesson, one that many are probably already familiar with, is the significance of players over teams.
Betting on the winning team will never go out of fashion, that’s not what I’m saying. I’m sure plenty of bookmakers took bets in their droves on England to beat Argentina outright on 15 July (and no, we’re not still bitter about that), and some will have taken bets on Argentina to beat Spain in the final too.
But bets on players to score, or assist, or perhaps on a more negative note to get booked, will have been through the roof this tournament. Each team featured a number of star players who caught punter attention throughout.
2026 World Cup paints picture of future
An obvious example from the World Cup would of course be Lionel Messi for Argentina, with others being Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane for England, Mo Salah for Egypt, Kylian Mbappé for France, and Erling Haaland for Norway, to name a few of the biggest names who delivered in the tournament – apologies to anyone whose favourite player I’ve omitted from this.
The 2026 World Cup was the tournament of the stars, with all those top names delivering big moments for their nations.
The individual popularity of certain players is on display every weekend – just listen to whoever gets the biggest cheer when they walk onto the pitch.
This can even be seen in friendly games – the BBC wrote a whole article this week about how big a reception Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes received during the club’s historic, BOYLE Sports-sponsored pre-season friendly against Leeds United at Croke Park in Dublin, the cathedral of Gaelic athletics.
The point I’m making is that operators should take heed and recognise the importance of individuality in modern football and modern betting. This is of course something that has been recognised for some time, the existence of player-to-score or player-to-assist markets as a product being testament to this.
There is always room to go further, however, and really maximise this. One avenue could be marketing, but teams should tread carefully here given the intense scrutiny betting marketing is under, from the UK to the Netherlands to Brazil.
Including young and popular football players who have a large following among under-18s and under-21s is risky business in the modern industry as regulators and regulatory guidelines, unsteadily, have put up the guardrails.
A much safer and more reliable way of capitalising on the popularity of player bets and individual player followings is betting market and product development. Special bets and offers, or perhaps even pre-built bet builders based around a specific player in a game, could be a winner.
Companies are already taking note. Entain launched Seven this week – a free-to-play, fantasy inspired product, with the initial target being the Premier League. The company plans to take the product into other sports and markets.
The product has also been specifically designed after Entain witnessed the popularity of player markets during the World Cup, and how much modern football fandom focuses on particular names and faces.
In an age of fierce competition, tightening regulation and heavy taxation, there are over 2,000 licensed gambling firms in the UK alone and that market is no stranger to the latter topics either. The next battle for bookmakers is for the next generation of punters – the emerging Gen Z.
Knowing what they like to bet on is key to this, and from what we’ve seen at the World Cup, it’s players.
