Despite a sluggish start, it was only a matter of time before the World Cup hit its stride.
And the summer showpiece has certainly lived up to the billing, with beautiful football, fantastic underdog stories and record-breaking performances from some of the best to ever lace up their boots.
The general consensus is that, as a betting vehicle, the World Cup has been hit and miss, with plenty of notable players finding the net – good for those goalscorer bets – but some teams letting punters down.
England, of course, being top of the list as they cost backers more than £9 million when they failed to beat Ghana…
Here’s some of the other big bets and glorious wins that have made the headlines during the World Cup so far.
Kane Not Able to Land 1,000/1 Winner
It has been a good tournament so far for punters that like to back the most recognisable goalscorers to find the net.
Lionel Messi has been in sublime form, bagging a hat-trick in Argentina’s opener against Algeria before following up with a brace against Austria. He’s now scored more goals than anybody else in World Cup history.
Messi’s old mucker Cristiano Ronaldo took his time to warm up, but the Portuguese frontman looked like his old self in a strong display against Uzbekistan.
CR7 scored twice and, arguably, could have had a hat-trick as Portugal put the World Cup debutants to the sword in a 5-0 victory.
A handful of punters had backed Messi and Ronaldo to score two or more goals in their respective games, adding the likes of Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland into the mix as well.
Mbappe’s love affair with the World Cup continues: the 2022 Golden Boot winner has scored twice against both Senegal and Iraq, while Haaland has also achieved the double-double by bagging a brace against both Iraq and Senegal.
Add into the mix Harry Kane’s pair of goals against Croatia and it was enough for one SkyBet customer to turn a fiver into nearly six grand.
| Bet | Odds |
|---|---|
| Kane to Score a Brace | 6/1 |
| Messi to Score a Brace | 6/1 |
| Mbappe to Score a Brace | 9/4 |
| Haaland to Score a Brace | 13/2 |
After the goal-laden exploits of Messi, Mbappe and Haaland in the first round of games, one firm offered odds of 120/1 on the trio to score two or more next time out: they duly obliged, with some punters banking in excess of £1,000 for their efforts.
But these goalscorer multiples could have yielded so much more had Kane found his shooting boots against Ghana.
One customer had added Kane to the Messi-Mbappe-Haaland treble mentioned above; they would have won more than £2,500 from a fiver had the England frontman scored twice or more.
Elsewhere, a Betfair punter placed a very similar sort of wager… and missed out on a £10,080 return when Kane failed to join the double-double gang.
Patriotic Punting
Jake Paul is no stranger to a big bet or two.
The influencer-turned-boxer has placed a catalogue of five and six-figure wagers over the years, and he’s been the subject of huge betting activity himself from his boxing bouts with Anthony Joshua and Mike Tyson, amongst others.
And the Problem Child, as he’s known, has clearly been swept up by patriotic fervour during the World Cup that’s partly being played on American soil.
He’s placed a bet of nearly £25,000 on the USA to win the World Cup, with a potential return of a cool £1.34 million.
Paul was able to circumnavigate stake limits by betting with Polymarket, the prediction market that doesn’t have the same safer gambling tools in place as a bookmaker.
Whether the Stars and Stripes are able to make good on his bet remains to be seen. They have won their opening two games – beating Australia 2-0 and thrashing Paraguay 4-1 – to set out their stall.
But the USA are still available at odds of 60/1 in places, which confirms how unlikely it is that they’ll lift the trophy – not that the most patriotic are put off from having a flutter or two.
Just ask England supporters…