Bettors won big in the World Cup group stage, leaving the US sportsbook operator DraftKings out of pocket by around $50 million, per Bank of America.
The winning payouts may have taken a sizable chunk out of DraftKings’ estimated $1.1 billion total betting handle, as forecasted pre-tournament by Deutsche Bank.
Big wins for the likes of England and the US men’s national team have hit bookies in the wallet, financial analysts said.
The USMNT’s progress to the round of 16 has been the “biggest liability” so far for most US sportsbooks, Bank of America analyst Julie Hoover told the Financial Times.
DraftKings World Cup Losses: England, USMNT May Spoil Party
Bigger losses could yet be in store if England and the US continue to progress at the tournament.
Ahead of the tournament, one betting firm estimated that 3% of global bettors have backed the USMNT to lift the World Cup, although only 6% of American bettors have backed their home country to win.
Pre-tournament odds of a US victory were 50-1 to 60-1 on most major sportsbook platforms. Those same platforms have since slashed their odds to around 20-1.
A first England victory since 1966 could prove costlier still. The aforementioned data indicated 20% of global outright bets backed the Three Lions to bring the trophy to London.
Most sportsbooks had England priced at 6-1 to 7-1 pre-tournament. Ahead of the Three Lions’ round of 16 game against Mexico, odds have drifted to the 8-1 to 9-1 range.
Analysts agree that sports fans tend to back their home countries ahead of crunch fixtures, which can sometimes prove costly for sportsbooks.
The Financial Times reported that Paddy Power and FanDuel operator Flutter paid out UK-based punters almost $5.5 million after England won its opening match versus Croatia.
But bookies had their revenge when England labored to a 0-0 draw against Ghana in the second group match. This “more than balanced the books” for the likes of Flutter, said Bank of America analysts.
A Big Day for Parlays
The analysts added that sportsbooks had an uncomfortable day on June 23, when big-name players like Lionel Messi, Erling Haaland, and Kylian Mbappé bagged braces.
The Bank of America experts said this saw sportsbooks pay out big in accumulator (multi-leg or parlay) bets, with many bettors combining an outright result with a goalscorer.
The experts added that many punters backed all three of Messi, Haaland, and Mbappé to score on June 23. Some even bet that all three would score at least twice, and reportedly “netted a particularly large windfall.”
The newspaper said DraftKings declined to comment on the Bank of America estimates.
However, some bookmakers appear ready to absorb multimillion-dollar losses if it means they gain new customers.
Pre-tournament, the DraftKings CEO Jason Robins called the World Cup “a huge focal point for customer acquisition.” Flutter CEO Peter Jackson, meanwhile, called the World Cup the “biggest betting opportunity we’ll have ever seen.”
Sportsbooks, brokerages, and prediction market operators are “all converging to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to acquire customers” as the tournament continues, Jordan Bender, an analyst at investment banking firm Citizens, told the same newspaper.
The race for the Golden Boot continues to intensify ahead of the round of 16, with 39-year-old veteran Messi currently the favorite on platforms like Kalshi.
