Beyond the final whistle: The World Cup’s impact on gambling harms
Addictions
6 July 2026
By Emily
With the Men’s World Cup well underway, communities come together to celebrate one of the world’s biggest sporting events.
But while attention is firmly fixed on the action on the pitch, another record is expected to be broken during the 2026 World Cup. According to financial forecasts reported by the BBC, this tournament is set to become the biggest betting event in history. Global wagers are projected to exceed $50 billion (£37.4 billion).
The tournament’s expansion to 48 teams means fans will have more football than ever before. Over 100 matches will be played across six weeks. Combined with growing online and in-play betting, supporters will face an unprecedented number of opportunities to place a bet.
For many people, betting is simply another way to engage with the tournament. However, periods of heightened sporting activity have long been associated with increases in gambling participation. Therefore, this makes major events like the World Cup an important consideration for the organisations providing gambling harm support.
A changing landscape: The World Cup and gambling
The way people gamble has changed dramatically over the last decade. What was once largely confined to betting shops or placing a wager before kick-off, is now available 24/7 from people’s pockets, through smartphones and online platforms.
For individuals vulnerable to gambling-related harms, major sporting events can increase exposure to these opportunities.
This creates additional challenges for gambling harms services, and they must be prepared to respond to changing patterns of demand before, during and after major sporting events. For organisations delivering support, responding effectively isn’t simply about managing increased referrals. It’s about understanding patterns of demand, monitoring outcomes and ensuring people can access the right support at the right time.
Looking beyond the numbers
Understanding demand is about far more than simply counting referrals.
Services need to understand where people are entering treatment, how long they wait for support, which interventions are delivering the best outcomes and how clinical pathways can be continuously improved.
Without accurate, structured data, it becomes difficult to identify emerging trends or make informed decisions about service delivery.
As gambling harm services continue to evolve across the UK, the ability to collect meaningful data while supporting high-quality care has become increasingly important.
Using data to improve care
Technology has an important role to play in helping services meet these challenges.
Electronic patient record (EPR) systems enable organisations to record information once and use it during every stage of the journey. This includes from referral and assessment through to treatment, discharge and outcome reporting.
This not only reduces administrative burden for clinicians but also gives services access to real-time insights. These can support workforce planning, service development and quality improvement.
When periods of increased demand occur, such as during major sporting tournaments, having timely and reliable information allows organisations to understand what is happening and respond more effectively.
How Mayden supports gambling harms services
As gambling harm treatment continues to develop across the UK, having digital systems that can evolve alongside services will be essential to delivering responsive, evidence-based care.
At Mayden, we believe technology should support clinicians, not create additional administrative burden. Our gambling harms software has been developed to provide the flexibility, reporting capabilities and clinical functionality that specialist services need.
If you are a gambling harms service looking to:
- Adapt treatment pathways,
- Measure outcomes,
- Respond to changing demand following major sporting events,
We can help. Our EPR for improved outcomes, iaptus, and our case management for addiction services, Theseus, helps services capture meaningful data that informs decision-making while supporting high-quality, person-centred care.
By bringing together clinical records, outcome measures and powerful reporting in one place, services can spend less time managing data and more time focusing on what matters most: supporting people experiencing gambling-related harm.
Get in touch
If you would like to find out more about how iaptus can support gambling harms services, book a demo., and we’ll walk you through how we can help.