New Study: Top 10 Most Betting-Obsessed Countries During World Cup 2026

A July 2026 report on World Cup wagering found that Singapore is the most gambling-obsessed country during the tournament. A new study by THANTAI88 broke down total money wagered, search interest, and soccer fan numbers across 42 countries to see which nations are most engaged with football wagering.

The study looked at two key factors to measure World Cup gambling engagement: how much the average person wagers and how often people search for related terms online. Countries where both numbers are high score better, with per-person volume directly reflecting actual dedicated funds. Additional data on how much money each country spends, how many football fans there are, and estimations of wagering by football fans were also collected for a broader context.

Volume vs Interest: The Two Forces Behind Every Score

Every country's score in this study comes down to just two inputs: how much the average person actually wagers (60% of the score) and how often people search for betting terms relative to the population (40%). That split explains why the leaderboard doesn't simply track total money spent. It also produces the single biggest gap in the entire study: Singapore's score of 100 sits 6 points clear of second-placed Canada (94), the largest gap between any two consecutive countries across all 42 nations ranked. Every other step down the table, all the way to 42nd place, is 2 to 4 points. Singapore isn't just ahead. It's in a category of its own.

1. Singapore

Singapore is the most wager-happy country on the planet during the World Cup. The typical football fan drops $200, the highest per-person figure anywhere in the study. In total, people there have staked $620 million, even though the country has only 6.2 million residents. Locals have looked up punting-related terms over 326K times in the last month, which means a huge chunk of the population is hunting for odds, bookmakers, and predictions.

• Wagering volume: $620 million
• Wagering volume per person: $100
• Number of soccer fans: 1 million
• Wagering volume per soccer fan: $200
• Search volume: 19K monthly

2. Canada

Canada comes in second, with $1.4 billion wagered across the tournament, the most among the top five. The average Canadian risks $36 over the World Cup, and people across the country have typed in gambling queries more than 1.78 million times. With 5.8 million soccer fans, this translates to each putting down around $241 during the competition.

Just 15% of Canada's population identifies as soccer fans, the lowest share of any country in the top 10. Yet those fans wager an average of $241.17 each during the tournament, the highest per-fan figure of any country in the top 10, even ahead of Singapore's $200.00. Canada's betting obsession isn't broad. It's concentrated in a small, high-spending core of dedicated fans rather than spread across the general population.

3. Denmark

Denmark lands in third spot, with $210 million staked. The typical Dane stakes $36 over the tournament, but this number almost doubles if only 3.2 million soccer fans are taken into account. During the competition, each one stakes roughly $66, and each month, over 154K people look up how to wager on these matches.

4. Uruguay

Uruguay ranks fourth with $125 million put down on matches, an impressive sum for a nation of just 3.5 million people. Over 90% of the population is active football fans, and almost the entire country is tuned to the tournament. Each dedicated fan wagers about $40 across the competition, and with nearly every citizen invested in the action, that collective enthusiasm keeps Uruguay right on Denmark's heels.

Uruguay's population is 90% self-identified soccer fans, by far the highest share of any country in the top 10 and more than six times Canada's rate. Despite that near-total engagement, Uruguay ranks only 4th, because its per-person spend of $35.71 sits squarely in the middle of the top 10 pack. The data suggests that widespread passion for the sport doesn't automatically translate into the biggest wagers. It's the size of individual bets, not the size of the fanbase, that ultimately drives the score.

5. Portugal

Portugal rounds out the top five with $340 million staked overall, driven by a large and engaged soccer audience. The typical local punts $33 over the tournament, and searches for related terms have topped 281K, showing a real appetite for action among the country's 7.7 million fans. That combination of solid individual spending and a broad supporter base is enough to keep Portugal in the mix, even if the per-person numbers aren't quite as eye-catching as the nations sitting above it.

Cameroon Searches More Than It Spends

Cameroon's per-person wager of $4.60 is the lowest figure in the entire top 10, yet the country still finishes 7th with a score of 82. The reason is search behaviour. More than half of Cameroon's population (50.61%) searched for betting-related terms during the tournament, roughly ten times Singapore's search rate (5.26%) despite Singapore topping the overall rankings. Cameroon's position in the rankings shows how Cameroon betting activity can push the country deep into the top 10., even when actual spending stays low.

• The score isn't just about spend. Search interest (40% of the score) can carry a country deep into the top 10 even when wagering stays low, Cameroon's per-person spend is the lowest in the top 10 ($4.60), yet its search rate is roughly ten times Singapore's, keeping it at 7th overall.
• Fan size and spend size don't move together. Uruguay has the highest share of self-identified soccer fans of any top 10 country (90%) but ranks only 4th, while Canada has the lowest fan share (15%) yet posts the highest per-fan spend ($241.17). Passion for the sport and willingness to wager on it are two separate things.
• Total volume misleads without population context. Brazil wagered $3.5 billion, more than double Canada's total, yet ranks 16th because that spend works out to just $16.34 per person once divided across 214.2 million people. The same pattern drags the United States down to 29th despite $3.1 billion in total wagers.

Singapore's numbers stand out because the obsession runs both ways, real money and real curiosity, at the same rate. Canada tells the opposite story: a small core of fans spending big shows obsession doesn't need to be widespread to be real.

- Heather Gartland, THANTAI88's Analyst

The countdown above covers the top 10, but the underlying study scored 42 countries in total. Here's how the rest of the field stacks up, from Argentina just outside the top 10 down to Egypt at the bottom.

Worth Noting:

• Brazil wagered $3.5 billion in total, more than double Canada's total volume, yet ranks just 16th because that spending is spread across a population of 214.2 million, working out to only $16.34 per person.
• The United States shows a similar pattern, with $3.1 billion wagered overall but a 29th-place finish, driven down by a low per-person figure ($9.35) and modest search interest (3.29% of the population).

You can access the complete research findings here.