BettingTop10 has released a new study ranking World Cup 2026 betting engagement across 42 countries, combining total wagering volume, per-person spend and search activity into a single obsession score. Singapore topped the list, but Canada finished 2nd overall with a betting profile unlike any other country in the field.
The ranking weighted two inputs: wagering volume per person counted for 60% of each country’s score, and search volume as a share of the population made up the remaining 40%. Per-person spending carried more weight because it reflects real money wagered rather than online interest alone. The study also tracked total wagering volume, soccer fan populations and per-fan spending for broader context.
Canada’s Small Fan Base, Record Per-Fan Spend
Just 15% of Canadians identify as soccer fans, the lowest share of any country in the entire 42-nation study. The next-lowest, the United States, sits at 27%. Yet no country wagers more per soccer fan than Canada, where the average fan puts down 241.17 dollars across the tournament, ahead of Singapore’s 200.00 dollars and more than three and a half times Denmark’s 65.83 dollars, the next closest figure outside the top two.
Total Dollars vs. Real Obsession
Canada wagered 1.4 billion dollars in total, more than double Singapore’s 620 million dollars, yet ranks only 5th in raw dollars wagered. Brazil, the United States, Indonesia and Vietnam each wagered more in absolute terms, but none finish anywhere near Canada in the final ranking: Brazil is 16th, Vietnam 22nd, the United States 29th, and Indonesia 37th. Total dollars wagered and betting obsession, the study found, are two different things.
Canada vs. Its World Cup Co-Hosts
Canada’s outlier status shows most clearly against its fellow tournament hosts. Canadians wager 36.18 dollars per person, compared to 9.35 dollars for Americans, despite the United States population being more than eight times larger. Canada finishes 2nd overall with 94 points; the United States finishes 29th with 37.
The gap with Mexico is wider still. Canadians wager 36.18 dollars per person against 6.52 dollars for Mexicans, and the per-fan gap is starker yet: 241.17 dollars versus 8.94 dollars, a 27-times difference. Mexico’s population is 73% self-identified soccer fans, nearly five times Canada’s 15%, and Mexico has roughly 95 million soccer fans to Canada’s 5.8 million. Despite that, Canada still out-wagers Mexico in total dollars, 1.4 billion to 850 million.
What Separates Canada from Denmark
Canada and Denmark wager almost identical amounts per person, 36.18 dollars versus 36.21 dollars, essentially a rounding error apart. Canada finishes ahead on search interest instead: Canadians searched betting-related terms at nearly double Denmark’s rate, 4.61% of the population versus 2.66%. Since search volume makes up 40% of the final score, that gap was enough to separate 2nd place from 3rd. Canada’s search rate still only ranks 9th among all 42 countries, well behind Cameroon at 50.61%, the highest in the study. Canada’s position is built almost entirely on the size of the wagers its fans are placing, not national curiosity.
The wider field showed similar patterns of spend not matching passion. Uruguay recorded the highest fan share of any top 10 country, 90%, yet finished only 4th, with a mid-pack per-person wager of 35.71 dollars. Singapore’s lead over Canada, six points, was the single largest gap between any two consecutive countries across all 42 nations ranked, with every other step down the table sitting between two and four points.
Heather Gartland, BettingTop10’s Analyst, said:
“Singapore’s numbers stand out because the obsession runs both ways, real money and real curiosity, at the same rate. Canada tells the opposite story: a small core of fans spending big shows obsession doesn’t need to be widespread to be real.”
The full study, including the complete 42-country ranking and methodology, is available at bettingtop10.ca.
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