Cristiano Ronaldo and Jake Paul top the rankings of most bet-on athletes, according to a new study by trading firm Atmos.
The study examined 10 major sports, tracking wagering information through public data and social signals. Here are the criteria for The Bet-On Index:
- Google queries
- Annual news coverage
- Annual views of Wikimedia pages
The study focused on a pool of 174 active athletes with sport-specific player IDs.
Ranking the Most Bet-On Athletes
Here are the top-10 athletes attracting the most bets, according to the study.
| Athlete | Sport | Bet-On Index (0-100) | Wikipedia Views (2025) | News Mentions (2025) | Betting Search Index (2025-26) | Rank in Sport |
| Cristiano Ronaldo | Football | 94.44 | 12.11M | 14.3K | 214 | 1 |
| Jake Paul | Boxing | 93.2 | 3.52M | 5.5K | 300 | 1 |
| LeBron James | Basketball | 85.73 | 6.45M | 21.3K | 100 | 1 |
| Anthony Joshua | Boxing | 85.62 | 3.87M | 3.3K | 154.9 | 2 |
| Shohei Ohtani | Baseball | 85.32 | 5.44M | 14.3K | 107.5 | 1 |
| Lionel Messi | Football | 84.7 | 7.66M | 12.3K | 96.2 | 2 |
| Neymar | Football | 84.54 | 3.77M | 4.5K | 133.5 | 3 |
| Travis Kelce | American Football | 84.4 | 4.69M | 42K | 83.9 | 1 |
| Max Verstappen | Formula 1 | 81.18 | 4.25M | 10.1K | 81.4 | 1 |
| Rory McIlroy | Golf | 81.14 | 5.78M | 6.1K | 82.6 | 1 |
Cristiano Ronaldo
The study found that Ronaldo’s matches see more than twice as much action as LeBron James‘s games. Many of the most recent wagers came on the number of goals Ronaldo would score in the 2026 World Cup. He finished the tournament with three.
Ronaldo’s also the most popular athlete online. More than 12 million people checked his Wikipedia page over the last year.
“Ronaldo leads such rankings not just because he is Ronaldo, but also because soccer creates 40% of global online sports betting revenue by itself,” said Atmos CEO Nick Cooke. “No other sport comes close.”
Jake Paul
Paul made a name for himself as a social media influencer before starting his boxing career. He’s amassed a record of 12-2 with wins over Mike Tyson and Nate Diaz. Most recently, he lost to Anthony Joshua last December.
With a top betting search index of 300, his fans search for wagers on Paul even more than Ronaldo’s legions of followers.
LeBron James
James is indeed the king when it comes to being the most bet-on basketball player. There’s not another NBA player in the top 10. He ranked second with 21.3K articles annually, second only to Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce (42K). Being married to Taylor Swift helps on that front.
Anthony Joshua
The aforementioned Joshua has a boxing record of 30-4, including the knockout win over Paul. Given that level of success, Joshua’s fans regard him as a safe bet. He attracts more wagers than LeBron.
Shohei Ohtani
It’s no surprise that Ohtani commands the most bets among all baseball players. He’s a global superstar playing for the best team in Major League Baseball, the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Ohtani lived through the scandal involving his interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara, who stole $17M from him to cover betting losses to then-illegal bookie Mathew Bowyer.
