US Sports Betting Handle Reaches $11.6B in World Cup July
US commercial sportsbooks took $11.60 billion in wagers during July, up 31.9% from a year earlier. Betting revenue reached $1.27 billion, a 27% increase, as the World Cup gave the market its strongest recent lift in wagering activity.
The figures come from the American Gaming Association’s latest Commercial Gaming Revenue Tracker, released September 24. AGA said the increase followed several months in which year-on-year handle growth had been close to zero.
Sports betting also grew much faster than the wider US commercial gaming market. Total commercial gaming revenue was up 8.6% year over year in July.
Traditional casino gaming increased 3.1% to $4.48 billion, including $3.25 billion from slots and $876.8 million from table games. Online casino revenue reached $1.01 billion, 15.7% above July 2025.
Handle Grew Faster Than Sportsbook Revenue
July’s betting figures also show that the extra wagering did not translate into revenue at the same rate.
- Handle – $11.60 billion, up 31.9%;
- Sportsbook revenue – $1.27 billion, up 27.0%;
- July hold – about 10.95%;
- Implied July 2025 hold – roughly 11.4%.
The hold figures are calculated from AGA’s reported totals and year-on-year changes. They put this year’s rate around 40 basis points below July 2025.
AGA likewise described July’s hold as less favorable than a year earlier. So while the World Cup brought substantially more money into sportsbooks, operators retained a slightly smaller share of each dollar wagered.
July Gaming Taxes Reach $1.42B
Commercial gaming generated $1.42 billion in state gaming taxes during July, according to AGA, up 7.7% year over year. The association also updated its estimate for sports products offered through prediction-market platforms. AGA now says states have missed out on about $1.5 billion in potential gaming taxes since the beginning of 2025.
That figure is an AGA estimate, rather than a tax loss reported by state regulators.
What Comes After the World Cup
July ended several months of weak handle growth, but the next question is whether any of that momentum remains after the tournament. GeoComply recorded 765 million US geolocation checks during the World Cup, its highest total for a soccer event. That reinforces the scale of sportsbook activity around the tournament, although geolocation checks are not a measure of unique bettors.
For operators, August and the start of the NFL season will show more. If handle growth drops back toward its earlier trend, July will look mainly like an event-driven spike. If some of the World Cup traffic carries into football, the tournament may have added customers that sportsbooks can retain beyond soccer.
There is already some reason to watch that comparison closely. AGA expects $29.5 billion to be legally wagered on the 2026 NFL season, almost unchanged from $29.4 billion last year. July’s 31.9% handle increase therefore sets a much higher growth mark than the association currently expects from the biggest US betting season.