During the 2026 FIFA World Cup, viewers were exposed to an average of 1.5 betting brand and prediction market ads per minute of live play.
A study led by the University of Bristol in collaboration with Oxford analyzed the advertising visible during live match broadcasts, in the form of logos, billboards, or brand names. In other words, advertising that viewers could not avoid.
According to the analysis, advertising for harmful products such as alcohol, fast food, and betting was present in all 104 matches of the tournament, and was visible for 39.3 hours of live play, nearly a quarter of the total live playing time.
Dr. Raffaello Rossi, Senior Lecturer in Marketing and co-director of the University of Bristol’s Gambling Harms Research Centre, and co-author of the study, noted that “this year’s FIFA World Cup offered an unprecedented advertising platform.”
“Our findings reveal the sheer volume of brands present in the tournament’s broadcasts, which makes exposure to unhealthy food, alcohol, and gambling brands ubiquitous and unavoidable for viewers,” he added.
Rossi is one of the experts who recently appeared before a House of Lords committee to present the research findings. This is the same committee that last week formally requested the British Government to impose a near-total ban on betting advertising.
Labour MP Alex Ballinger stated that “this study makes clear that current rules and protections are insufficient. Urgent reform is needed to protect young fans and preserve the integrity of football.”
What the data shows
Although betting advertising tends to grab the headlines, unhealthy food and beverage companies dominated sponsorship of the sporting competition. These accounted for 70.4% of all brands detected.
Together, bookmakers and prediction markets accounted for 16.9% of all harmful product logos recorded during the tournament. Prediction markets registered 9,360 appearances, while bookmakers accounted for 6,429 logos.
It is worth noting that FIFA and ADI Predictstreet announced an agreement in April of this year, under which the platform became the first official prediction markets partner for the World Cup.
ADI Predictstreet was responsible for 7,384 of the total prediction market logos.
This figure increased as a result of subsequent partnerships between ADI and Kalshi, and ADI and Fanatics.
In the betting sphere, Betano, Kaizen Gaming’s betting brand, was the big winner, capturing 91.1% of all advertising in the sector. Brands such as Caliente, Matchbook, and Winner.mx were also present.
Of the 172.6 hours of live play, 13 hours included betting or prediction market advertising, which represents approximately 7.5% of the total.
Local barriers
A key aspect highlighted by the research is that footage of FIFA matches, which included the same advertising integrated around the pitch, was shared with television networks around the world, including in countries where advertising for alcohol, gambling, or prediction markets may be restricted or illegal.
Despite existing technology for virtual billboard replacement, which allows different advertising to be shown in different countries, the report’s findings suggest that FIFA’s commercial model did not sufficiently take into account national laws or cultural norms governing the promotion of harmful products.
“One of the most heavily advertised betting brands held licenses in around 20 countries, while the World Cup was broadcast in more than 220 territories. In short, audiences in the vast majority of countries were exposed to advertising from a betting operator without local authorization,” Rossi noted.
Even in the United States, co-host country of the tournament, there is great concern about the proliferation of this activity. “It is one of the biggest public health crises of our generation,” said Paul Tonko, member of the House of Representatives. “It is imperative that the State intervene to establish minimum consumer protection guarantees, whether in the realm of online betting or prediction markets, with measures like my bill, the ‘SAFE Bet Act’,” he emphasized.
If passed, this law would require states that have legalized sports betting to obtain federal approval from the Department of Justice, despite the repeal of the PASPA law in 2018. The goal is to ensure ongoing compliance with the latest public health and consumer protection standards regarding advertising, solvency controls, and the use of artificial intelligence.