The German Sports Betting Association (DSWV) expects the 2026 FIFA World Cup to be the main betting event of the year. The tournament will feature 48 national teams, giving bookmakers a longer schedule and more betting activity than in past editions.
DSWV Puts Legal Stakes at €600m to €700m
According to DSWV, total stakes in Germany in relation to this tournament will be about €1 billion. The association expects that about €600 million to €700 million of these bets will be processed by the licensed bookmakers.
DSWV president Mathias Dahms said major tournaments can act as “an additional revenue month” for the industry. Matches involving Germany are expected to draw the strongest betting activity.
Illegal Betting Could Take Up to €400m
This prediction also highlights the magnitude of the issue of enforcing the legislation. DSWV warned that around €300m to €400m in World Cup stakes could still be placed with illegal operators.
The association attributes that risk to the strict nature of Germany’s gambling laws. According to DSWV, the regulated betting firms cannot provide all the markets that are offered offshore. One example cited by the association is an in-play market on whether a named player will score again during a match. DSWV argues that this puts legal operators at a disadvantage during major football events.
The regulator’s own study gives a less severe picture than some industry warnings. A GGL-commissioned study published in March put Germany’s online gambling channelisation rate at 77.03%. The same study estimated the unregulated online gambling share at 22.97%.
There remains a significant share of illegal operations. Furthermore, this makes the World Cup a test case for licensed bookmakers and enforcement agencies alike.
GGL Focuses on Platform Accountability
Recently, GGL participated in the conference of the Gambling Regulators European Forum in Sofia for talks about illegal gambling, player protection and data-driven regulation among other European agencies.
The European Digital Services Act was one of the topics discussed. For gambling regulators, the question is how digital platforms and intermediaries can be made more accountable when illegal gambling content reaches local users.
Germany is also moving toward the scheduled review of the 2021 Interstate Gambling Treaty, which is due to be completed by the end of 2026. The size of the illegal market is likely to remain one of the central issues in that process.
Bottom Line
For licensed operators, the event is a chance to keep players inside the regulated market. For GGL, it is a stress test for blocking tools, cross-border cooperation and data-led enforcement. The key issue is not the size of the tournament alone. It is whether Germany can turn high football interest into legal betting activity instead of another boost for offshore sites.
