As expected, the U.S. men's national team is dominating sportsbook betting ahead of the host nation's opening match of the 2026 World Cup.
Key Takeaways
- More than 80% of the money wagered at multiple sportsbooks is on the U.S. team to win outright Friday.
- The home team's moneyline is getting more than 10 times as many bets as any other team at BetMGM.
- USA-Paraguay is also dominating the prop-market betting.
BetMGM reported on Thursday that the U.S.-Paraguay showdown for Friday night is getting eight times more bets than any other match listed so far, while the American moneyline of -102 odds is taking 10 times more wagers than any other team in the tournament.
Fanatics Sportsbook expects USMNT games to generate five times more handle than the rest of the World Cup matches.
Enjoying Covers content? Add us as a preferred source on your Google account“Unsurprisingly, it’s been one-way traffic from our customers for USA vs. Paraguay, with strong support for the USMNT to get their tournament off to a winning start,” said Mark Bickerdike, head of soccer at Caesars Sportsbook. “Currently, 85% of the handle in the Match Betting market is on the USA.”
High percentages
A FanDuel spokesperson told Covers that “fans are confident the U.S. will earn three points,” as 87% of the handle and 79% of the bets are on the Americans to beat Paraguay at -105.
DraftKings has seen a staggering 94% of the money come in on the U.S. (-105) and 89% of the wagers as of Thursday morning. BetMGM reported that 87% of the tickets and 89% of the handle are backing the home team.
BetMGM customers are also heavily backing over 2.5 goals scored, making that market the most-bet total of the early group stage matches. U.S.-Paraguay is also dominating game props, with double chance: USA or Tie (-400) being the most bet of the list.
Both teams to score: Yes (+100) is getting the second-most action, followed by USA to score over 0.5 goals (-350), USA over 1.5 goals (+130), and USA tie no bet (-235) at BetMGM.
Captain America
Bettors are locked in on Christian Pulisic in the opening match. The American captain is +195 to score a goal at BetMGM, where he’s the most-bet anytime goal-scorer.
Pulisic is also the most popular player to ripple the net at FanDuel, and Bickerdike said the attacking midfielder accounts for 45% of all bets placed in the anytime goal-scorer market, “making him the standout selection so far.”
Future wager
The USMNT's World Cup odds have lengthened from +1,900 at opening to +5,000 at BetMGM, but that hasn’t stopped bettors from taking the host team. The U.S. is the second-biggest liability in the futures market, behind Haiti (+250,000) and just ahead of cofavorite Spain (+450).
A BetMGM customer wagered $1,500 on the U.S. to hoist the World Cup trophy at odds of +6,600. The payout would be $99,000.
