World Cup betting turnover hits €136bn

Fifa has claimed it was able to avoid manipulation and betting fraud in relation to this year’s World Cup in Russia, with a huge €136bn (£122bn/$158bn) wagered on the football tournament through verifiable platforms.

Football’s global governing body works with Sportradar to identify and analyse betting behaviour and patterns at various major national team and domestic club competitions around the world.

Sportradar deployed its Fraud Detection System to monitor over 550 betting operators across the globe during the World Cup.

After the tournament, Fifa and Sportradar carried out in-depth analysis of betting activities during matches, but could not find anything suspicious.

The average match at the tournament had an estimated global betting turnover of €2.1bn, while the final between France and Croatia generated a worldwide estimated turnover of €7.2bn.

Fifa also noted that Croatia, which lost 4-2 to France in the final, attracted the highest average betting turnover per match.

A number of bookmakers have already spoken out about how the World Cup helped to boost betting levels in the latter part of the second quarter.

Today (Wednesday), Paddy Power Betfair said profit before tax in Q2 was up 4% to £106m, largely thanks to a 13% quarterly increase in revenue driven by the World Cup, while Kindred last month suggested that the tournament had helped to attract a large number of new customers.

In addition, French national regulator ARJEL said sports wagers hit record levels in the second quarter, due in part to the country’s triumph in Russia.