Legal World Cup Betting

In the US, legal World Cup betting may represent a smaller market than other American sports gambling mainstays, but the hundreds of games between the qualifiers and the main tournament mean more opportunities for wagering. Naturally, there’s a lot of excitement coming from all corners of the world in anticipation of this spectacle, and that translates into a whole lot of legal World Cup betting. In fact, taken as a global whole, the World Cup tournament is the single most bet-on sporting event on Earth, eclipsing even the Super Bowl in its handle totals over its month of action.

For the most part, Europeans have no problem with legal World Cup betting, as most nations allow sports betting in general. In the UK, for example, you can’t walk two blocks without bumping into an automated wagering kiosk, where legal betting on the World Cup is openly advertised and encouraged. In the US, however, that’s not quite the case just yet – land-based sportsbooks are just starting to spread in popularity on American soil. Of course, thanks to Internet-based offshore sportsbooks, US residents can enjoy legal World Cup betting from the comfort of their own homes and the convenience of their iPhones, Androids, and tablets.

Though offshore sportsbooks have long been referred to as legal sports betting sites and have accepted US sports bettors for decades, they are in fact unregulated. With PASPA overturned, bettors may now be able to find legal World Cup betting at local betting establishments. States like Delaware, Mississippi, New Jersey, and Rhode Island were among the first states to legalize and open land-based sportsbooks. Some states are also opting to launch their own legal sports betting sites and mobile apps, but there are still many states on the fence about both. Those who want access to legal World Cup sports betting can continue to use reputable online sportsbooks like Bovada, BetOnline, and 5Dimes.

For the most part, if you’re familiar with betting on the major US sports, you won’t have any trouble adapting to the types of World Cup wagers available at legal online sportsbooks. There’s really only one key difference to consider, and that is that soccer matches can – and frequently do – end in ties. (In the World Cup, only the first 64 group-round matches can end in draws, while the knockout round of 16 teams includes overtime periods and shootouts to prevent any tied results.)

Because matches can end in ties, the most common soccer bet accounts for this, and it is called the full time result, which has lines for both wins and draws. This means that you can bet on either team to win or for the game to end in a tie. Otherwise, the moneylines work exactly the same way as for other sports.

Other World Cup wager types include totals (a.k.a. over/unders), the double chance (pick two of three possible outcomes, i.e. win/lose/draw), the draw no bet (draws result in wager refunds), and the handicap/Asian handicap (a.k.a. the point spread bet). More advanced bet types include correct score wagering, where World Cup bettors have to correctly guess the exact final score, and prop betting, where gamblers can put action on anything from halftime scores, individual scorers, and dozens of other options. You can also place futures wagers on the massive soccer tournament, where you can select a given nation to win the FIFA World Cup Trophy several years out from the contest. Given that the World Cup is only held once every four years, futures betting is typically the most accessible and available wagering type for most gamblers.

While there are literally hundreds of Internet betting sites available to US residents, most of them are untrustworthy (and some are outright scams). If you’re going to put money on the biggest sports spectacle ever, you need to make sure you only use the top available services with track records for fair lines and prompt payouts. To that end, the best online sportsbooks for legal World Cup betting are Bovada, BetOnline, SportsBetting, 5Dimes, BetDSI, and BookMaker.

While most legal online sportsbooks offer multiple ways to fund your accounts, the best World Cup betting deposit methods are those that transfer quickly so you can bet it while the betting’s good. As such, most bettors use credit or debit charges to fill their digital wallets. These methods are nearly instantaneous but unfortunately carry comparatively small limits on how much you can deposit at one time.

High rollers will likely need to use different deposit methods, like bank wires, personal checks, or money orders, even though these avenues can take up to two weeks to clear. A third option is to use a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin, which transfers in just a few minutes and typically carries a fairly high limit along with minimal service fees.

Once you’ve won big with your expertly-placed wagers, you’ll probably want to know how to withdraw your World Cup betting payouts at legal sports betting sites. Fortunately, it’s as easy as contacting your sportsbook’s cashier service and putting in your request. After they confirm your identity, you’ll be able to choose from courier checks, bank wire transfers, or money orders. Each has withdrawal minimum and maximum limits, and each will take between one and two weeks to show up in your personal account. The fastest payout method available to World Cup bettors is to use cryptocurrency, and all major sportsbooks utilize Bitcoin for this purpose. (Note: BetOnline and SportsBetting also accept Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin CASH, and DASH. Other top books accept still more cryptos, like Cardano, Stellar, Ripple, etc.)