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Americans are projected to wager $2.82 billion to $3.1 billion on the global soccer tournament this summer, according to projections from Eilers & Krejcik Gaming and Bookies.com, compared with $1.8 billion legally wagered on the 2022 tournament.
For sportsbooks, that’s a great business. For the average bettor, history suggests the opposite: Most people walk away with less than they started with.
Big games create the feeling of outsize opportunity, but the math behind gambling hardly changes. Over time, most bettors lose.
Americans wagered $165.2 billion on sports in 2025, up from $4.6 billion in 2018, according to SportsHandle.com. Sportsbooks kept 9.74% of every dollar wagered, $16.1 billion in gross revenue, meaning the average bettor lost roughly $430 over the full year, according to Motley Fool calculations.
Sportsbooks have posted a record annual handle every year since the Supreme Court struck down the federal ban in May 2018.
The 2024–25 football season (September through February) generated $89.6 billion in handle, with sportsbooks retaining 8.66%, roughly $207 in average losses per bettor over the six-month span, according to SportsHandle.com data and our own calculations. Across the three most recent complete seasons for which there's data (2022–25), the hold rate ranged from 8.7% to 9.1% and per-bettor losses ranged from roughly $140 to $210.
February is the season's peak month. In February 2025, which includes the NFL's championship game, Americans wagered $12.5 billion, with sportsbooks retaining 9.62% and the average bettor losing roughly $32, above the seasonal average, based on Motley Fool calculations.
Legal Sports Report estimated that sportsbooks would generate $100 million in revenue from wagers on the final game of the 2026 playoffs, assuming a 6% hold. That means bettors are expected to lose an average of $6 for every $100 bet.
Some people may have won big, but most didn't, which is how sportsbooks stay profitable.
The international soccer tournament hosted in North America this summer is projected to draw $2.82 billion to $3.1 billion in U.S. legal sports betting, according to projections from Eilers & Krejcik Gaming and Bookies.com, compared with $1.8 billion bet on the 2022 tournament.
Using November and December 2022, the months containing the previous tournament, as a proxy, sportsbooks retained an average of 8.74% of handle across all U.S. legal sports wagering during that period, according to SportsHandle.com data and our own calculations. At that rate, bettors would collectively lose roughly $246 million to $271 million on this summer's tournament, or about $9 for every $100 wagered.
Sports bettors lose not just because of bad luck but because sportsbooks are designed to win.
Several factors work against bettors:
Even bets that feel “safe” or well researched still face a built-in disadvantage.
Instead of sports betting, that same money could go into a high-yield savings account (HYSA), a certificate of deposit (CD), a diversified index fund like the S&P 500, or a diversified portfolio of individual stocks with a long-term mindset of holding those investments for at least five years.
If the average bettor moved the $130 to $200 typically wagered during a football season into a low-cost index fund, and markets performed in line with their historical long-term average, that money could compound substantially over time. For comparison, the S&P 500, including dividends reinvested, has grown at an average of about 10% per year over the past century.
The takeaway is straightforward: Sports betting functions as entertainment, not as a reliable way to build wealth. For long-term financial growth, historical data shows that consistent saving and investing outperform sports betting, with the gap widening the longer money stays invested.