bet365's World Cup bettors won approximately $40 million thanks to the company’s “Sub On Play On” promotion, which allows wagers to continue after players are substituted.
Key Takeaways
- The $40 million payout covers only the first 10 days of tournament action.
- The World Cup is averaging 9.4 substitutes per game.
- Bradley Barcola was the most profitable substitute after he replaced Ousmane Dembele against Senegal.
bet365 announced it had paid roughly $40 million to customers during the first 10 days, or 35 matches, of the 2026 World Cup as a result of Sub On Play On.
“You can see why it’s a customer (favorite),” bet365’s Steve Freeth said.
As an example of how the promotion works: If a bet365 user picked Harry Kane as an anytime goalscorer and Kane was substituted before he scored a goal, the user would still win their bet if his replacement found the back of the net before the match ended. That means customers are guaranteed to get at least 90 minutes of betting action for their choice of wager.
“Bradley Barcola replacing Ousmane Dembele against Senegal has proved to be costliest so far, while Crysencio Summerville’s impact after coming on for Donyell Malen - scoring and assisting versus Sweden - was another big one,” Freeth said of matches between France and Senegal, as well as the Netherlands and Sweden.
“Anthony Gordon backers would’ve been delighted to see Marcus Rashford shine in the England opener, and Deniz Undav is costing us a fair few quid despite only playing 56 minutes at the tournament so far,” Freeth continued, referencing England’s opener against Croatia and Undav scoring at least once in matches against Curacao and the Ivory Coast.
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Betting breakdown
The Sub On Play On promotion is active for 17 betting markets, including anytime goalscorer, anytime assist, player shots, player tackles, and player fouls committed.
Across the first 35 matches, teams averaged 9.4 substitutions per game out of a possible 10, with 37 of the 48 nations using all five available substitutes at least once.
bet365, in an email to Covers, included the most beneficial substitutes for bettors.
- France vs. Senegal: Bradley Barcola replaced Ousmane Dembele
- Netherlands vs. Sweden: Crysencio Summerville replaced Donyell Malen
- New Zealand vs. Egypt: Mahmoud Trezeguet replaced Omar Marmoush
- England vs. Croatia: Marcus Rashford replaced Anthony Gordon
- Germany vs. Ivory Coast: Deniz Undav replaced Jamal Musiala
Fittingly, the most popular wager in the U.S. is for the Americans to win the World Cup. Over 13% of all U.S.-based tickets in this market included the USMNT. The next most-popular teams to win the tournament are France (12.9%) and Spain (10.7%).
Americans are favoring Kylian Mbappe to win the Golden Boot (16.6%) ahead of Lionel Messi (11.3%), Harry Kane (9.8%), and Erling Haaland (9.2%).
Finally, the three matches that received the largest betting interest through 10 days of competition were: Brazil vs. Morocco, England vs. Croatia, and France vs. Senegal.
World Cup odds
As the World Cup wraps up the group stage and looks ahead to the knockouts, beginning over the weekend, France is the favorite to win the competition.
bet365’s World Cup odds have the 2018 champion and 2022 runner-up at +400, ahead of pre-tournament favorite Spain (+500).
England (+650) is tied with the defending champion Argentina and is ahead of Portugal (+1,000), Germany (+1,400), Brazil, and the Netherlands (both +1,600).
