The United States beat Bosnia-Herzegovina 2-0, and sportsbooks said the match had become the most-bet World Cup game in American history. The Americans had gone in as consensus -700 favorites to advance, with around -300 odds to win in regulation and a total of 2.5 goals.
According to The Athletic, DraftKings sportsbook director Johnny Avello described the handle as “off the charts” and said it looked set to surpass March Madness. BetMGM’s John Ewing said the game would be the single most-bet World Cup game ever.
The action was heavily tilted toward the United States. At Caesars, 92% of the money was backing the Americans, and Westgate SuperBook’s John Murray said only a couple of sharp accounts were not betting against the U.S.
BetMGM’s Christian Cipollini said the matchup was expected to be the book’s most bet-on soccer game of all time, and that all three of BetMGM’s most bet-on World Cup games had been USA matches. Caesars’ Mark Bickerdike said the pattern fit a broader tournament trend in which the biggest liabilities kept landing on the U.S.
The betting also spilled into player props. At BetMGM, Folarin Balogun and Christian Pulisic each sat around +105 to score and together accounted for 84% of that market’s handle, while more than half of Caesars tickets backed Pulisic to score.
The tournament futures market had already been moving sharply with each U.S. result. The Athletic reported that casual bettors initially backed Team USA at 60-to-1 to win the World Cup, and that the price had shortened to about 30-to-1 by the time of writing.
Fox Sports reported that Caesars had opened the 48-team tournament at +5000 on the U.S. to win and had moved through +4000 and +3000 before settling at +2500 after the round-of-32 win. Bickerdike said bettors were encouraged by the strong interest in the U.S. tournament-winner market after Wednesday’s game.
Independent analyst Nigel Seeley also expected a U.S. win and picked both teams to score at +110. He pointed to Bosnia-Herzegovina’s recent results, saying 11 of its last 12 internationals had seen both teams score.
The boom had been anticipated before the tournament began. CNBC reported that analysts expected the 2026 World Cup to be the biggest betting event in history, helped by North American scheduling, a stronger U.S. team and a legal betting market that had widened to about 65% of the U.S. population.
The KU School of Business said the U.S. market had expanded sharply since the Supreme Court’s 2018 PASPA ruling, when only Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware had live legal markets. By the 2022 World Cup, access had grown to roughly 31 states plus the District of Columbia, and now about 38 states plus D.C. and Puerto Rico offer legal sports betting.
KU researchers said June and July are usually slow months for wagering, which leaves pent-up demand for a tournament of this scale. They also described the World Cup as a customer-acquisition event, where first-time bettors download apps, clear geolocation checks and make deposits that can leave durable accounts behind.
The broader market has also become more sophisticated, with sportsbooks offering more same-game parlays, live betting and soccer-specific options than they did in 2022. The U.S. now moves on to Belgium in Monday night’s Round of 16.
