The World Cup is well under way, and across the country more and more people are likely to be betting on the football. A survey of 2,000 people who gamble found that 68% expect to bet more in 2026 because of the busy sporting calendar, and the World Cup is the single biggest reason, named by 59%. (Nationwide)
A tournament like this shifts the picture for a few weeks. There are more matches, more markets and a steady stream of betting messages around every game. But much of the rise isn't about a person choosing to gamble more. It's about how much gambling people see, and how the products are built to hold attention.
Chapter One is here for everyone affected by gambling. If you or someone you know needs help, you can get more information here.
A tournament built for betting
This World Cup is the biggest yet. The expanded 48-team format means more games, spread across a longer window, with group matches running most days for weeks. Every one of those games comes with its own set of betting markets, not just the result, but the first goalscorer, the number of corners, the minute of a card, anything that happens in a game can be bet on.
During the 2022 World Cup, bookmakers ran adverts offering bets that could be settled before a match even ended, and some showed odds that improved for a short time only, adding a sense of urgency. Features like these are built into how the products work.
So the change a tournament brings isn't really about the person. It's about the environment around them: more events to bet on, more markets per event, and more messages encouraging a bet right now. Anyone can be affected by that, whoever they are.
The money behind the rise
Betting was climbing before this tournament arrived. Nationwide, one of the country's biggest lenders, found that gambling spend among its customers rose 9% in 2025, with the number of transactions up 7%. The World Cup lands on top of a trend already heading in one direction.
The headline figure is what people at the top end are spending. Among Nationwide's members, the most active 10% spend an average of £745 a month on gambling. To put that in context, it sits above what the average UK household spends on food and non-alcoholic drinks in a month.
Most of that spending stays out of sight. There's no receipt to find and no obvious sign at home, which is part of why the effects of gambling can build for a long time before anyone notices. A busy tournament, with bets spread across dozens of games, makes it even easier for the total to add up without being clear.
From watching to betting
A University of Sheffield study looked at betting during the 2022 World Cup and measured what happened when people saw gambling messages during a game. Among men aged 18 to 44, betting activity rose by 16 to 24% after they saw gambling-related adverts, and they were up to 33% more likely to place a bet than during matches shown without them.
What stands out is that these bets didn't follow a plan or a budget, they followed the advert. And this was real betting being tracked, not people guessing what they might do later.
This is what these ads are designed to do. The offers are timed to land during a game, often with a deadline or a price that won't hold, so the prompt to bet arrives when someone is most caught up in the match.
So if betting has crept up for you during this tournament, that isn't a personal failing. It's the response the whole system is built to produce. Recognising that is often the first step to stepping back from it.
If you're between 25 and 35
The Sheffield findings centre on younger men, and that's no accident. People aged 25 to 35 grew up alongside online betting. For a lot of this age group, an app on the phone, a bet at half-time and odds shared in the group chat have been made to feel like part of watching football.
That's exactly why Chapter One and Liverpool City Council built the "If Only I Knew" campaign around this age group. Through a series of short films featuring people with their own experience of gambling harms, alongside commentator Clive Tyldesley, the campaign lays out the facts about how modern gambling is designed and the effect it can have.
The point isn't to tell anyone to stop watching football or to feel bad about a bet. It's that the effects of gambling can build before anyone notices, and they can affect anyone. Noticing it early, before it feels like a bigger problem, is far easier than people expect. That's the whole idea behind "if only I knew", the information that makes a difference is often the information people didn't have at the time.
Where to find help
If any of this feels familiar, there are simple steps that can help, and some are easier to put in place than people realise.
One is a gambling block, a free setting offered by most banks and building societies that stops payments to gambling firms from your account. They work, and they're underused. Nationwide found that nearly one in five people who gamble didn't know these blocks existed, and among those who had turned one on, 56% said it stopped them gambling further.
Asking for help is just as common as it sounds. The National Gambling Helpline took 105,765 contacts in 2025, and referrals in January 2026 were 48% higher than the year before, and that was before the tournament began. Reaching out isn't a last resort. It's what a lot of people are already doing.
Chapter One is here for everyone affected by gambling. You'll find clear information on how gambling harms work, the tools that can help you put some distance in, and the support available near you. It's free and confidential, and there's no wrong time to start.
It's not your fault, you're not alone, and the first step can be a small one.
