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Executive Summary:
The 2026 FIFA World Cup is often framed as an acquisition event. The 2022 World Cup data tells a different story. Analysis of more than 250 million bets across multiple global brands shows that existing customers, those who were active before the tournament began, represented 82% to 86% of all active bettors in every phase, from the Group Stage through the Final. They also outspent newly acquired bettors at every stage, by as much as 2.2x in the Group Stage.
For operators preparing for the 2026 World Cup, the data points to one operational reality. The tournament amplifies engagement among known customers more than it reshapes the audience mix. Protecting, activating, and upselling existing bettors is the primary lever for scale. This is where Positionless Marketing becomes critical. Any marketer must be able to execute any task, at any moment, without being constrained to a role or workflow. The tournaments are won by the operators whose teams can move at the speed of the customer.
Methodology:
Optimove Insights analyzed sportsbook activity across multiple global brands, examining more than 250 million bets placed during the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Active bettors in each World Cup phase were segmented into three groups: existing bettors active before the tournament, bettors acquired earlier in the tournament, and brand-new bettors in the current stage. Average bet amounts per bettor were compared across these groups at each phase. To isolate the tournament's impact, Optimove Insights benchmarked each World Cup stage against the brands' average daily performance.
Optimove Insights segmented active bettors in each World Cup phase into three groups: existing bettors active before the tournament; bettors acquired earlier in the tournament; and brand-new bettors in the current stage.
Across all stages, one finding is consistent. Pre-World Cup bettors represented roughly 82% to 86% of all active bettors in every phase, making them the dominant audience not only at the start of the tournament but through the Final as well.
While the World Cup brought incremental new audiences, the dominant story is stability. Existing bettors consistently made up the vast majority of active players in every stage. Even as the tournament moved toward its peak moments, the bettor profile stayed anchored in the pre-World Cup base.
This has direct implications for operators. A World Cup strategy should not be framed only as an acquisition season. It is a period where protecting, activating, and upselling existing bettors is the primary lever for scale, while new and newly acquired World Cup bettors provide incremental reach on top of that core.
Optimove Insights compared average bet amounts per bettor between existing customers and World Cup-acquired bettors across each phase of the tournament.
Across every phase, existing bettors consistently placed higher average bet amounts per bettor than World Cup-acquired bettors. The gap was the largest early on. During the Group Stage, existing customers spent approximately 2.2x more per bettor than World Cup-acquired bettors.
As the tournament progressed into the Knockout Stage, the gap narrowed but remained meaningful, with existing bettors still outspending World Cup-acquired bettors by approximately 1.5x per bettor.
Even in the Final, when new attention peaks and casual participation is at its highest, existing bettors still outspent World Cup-acquired bettors by approximately 1.2x per bettor. Acquisition adds reach. Existing customers drive revenue.
The 2022 World Cup can be a guide to what operators may face in 2026. It is not a forecast. Markets have evolved. Regulation has expanded. Bettor behavior will shift. But the patterns from 2022 tell us what to look for, what to plan against, and where the value will likely come from.
What the data makes clear is that the World Cup is not primarily an acquisition event. It is an existing customer event. The operators who treat it as such, and build their marketing programs around activating, protecting, and upselling their core base, will capture more of the tournament's value than those chasing new registrations alone.
The challenge does not end when the tournament ends. The World Cup brings a flood of new and casual bettors. Most of them will not stay. The operators who win the months after the tournament are the ones who can quickly identify which players to keep investing in and which to let go. Marketing budgets are not infinite, and chasing every new face is the fastest way to spend without return.
This is why Positionless Marketing is critical. It enables any marketer to execute any task, at any moment, without being constrained to a fixed role or workflow. During the tournament, that means moving at the speed of the customer. After the tournament, it means turning a flood of new bettors into a smaller pool of profitable ones. The 2022 data describe the shape of the opportunity. Positionless Marketing is how operators capture it during the World Cup and protect it after.
Optimove is the creator of Positionless Marketing and the #1 Player Engagement Solution for iGaming and sports betting operators. Positionless Marketing frees marketing teams from the limitations of fixed roles, giving every marketer the power to execute any marketing task instantly and independently. Positionless Marketing has been proven to improve campaign efficiency by 88%, allowing marketing teams to create more personalized engagement with existing customers.
For two years running, Optimove has been positioned as a Visionary in Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Multichannel Marketing Hubs, recognized for its AI-driven decisioning, prescriptive insights, and proven ability to orchestrate thousands of personalized campaigns in real time across channels.
Its Positionless Marketing Platform includes Optimove Engage and Orchestrate for cross-channel campaign decisioning and orchestration; Optimove Personalize, a digital personalization engine; and Optimove Gamify, a loyalty and gamification platform.
All are powered by Optimove AI, the marketing AI suite that brings AI everywhere marketers work. Inside the platform through Native AI agents for decisioning, analysis, and creation, outside it to external AI tools like Claude and ChatGPT through the Optimove MCP, and into custom-built applications on top of the platform through Optimove Custom Apps. Optimove has embedded AI in its platform since 2012, paving the way for Positionless Marketing.
Today, its comprehensive AI-powered suite is at the leading edge of empowering marketers to streamline workflows from Insight to Creation and through Optimization. Optimove provides industry-specific and use-case solutions for leading consumer brands globally.
Optimove Insights is the analytical and research arm of Optimove, dedicated to providing valuable industry insights and data-driven research to empower B2C businesses.
