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Creditas, in collaboration with Opinion Box, recently carried out an analysis revealing the high probability of Brazilians placing bets during the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The investigation entitled “Finance Scoreboard: How Football Affects the Finances of Brazilians” was performed among 561 employed people older than 18 years old between April 15 and April 22, 2026.
According to the survey, 60% of Brazilians are expected to carry out betting activities via digital platforms during the competition, whereas 20% of participants indicated their readiness to incur debt for the purpose of attending the competition.
The 2026 World Cup will be hosted by the USA, Mexico, and Canada for the first time. It will begin on June 11 at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.
Indebtedness Correlates With High Probability of Bets During World Cup Period
Survey results show that 26% of participants are already in debt before the World Cup starts, and 47% of them will have increased expenses during the competition.
Moreover, researchers found a clear correlation between indebtedness and participation in betting activities. Specifically, according to the study, 79% of indebted Brazilians are planning to place bets, whereas among those who are not indebted, this share equals 48%.
Thus, it was concluded that indebted people are roughly 1.6 times more likely to place bets than other respondents. Among those who are ready to incur debts in order to enjoy the competition, 36% pointed out rarity as the main reason to borrow money, since the World Cup happens only once every four years.
Younger Generations More Willing to Spend and Bet on World Cup Games
Younger respondents are expected to be more willing to place expenses during the competition. As per the survey, 89% of younger generations indicated that they will have additional expenses associated with the World Cup games.
Additionally, among young respondents, 30% agreed to incur debt during the games. As for 18-24 year olds, 70% of them are planning to participate in betting platforms or pools. For the general sample, this figure equals 56%.
Also, it was revealed that 25 million Brazilian CPFs were used for betting in Brazil. In particular, each CPF has at least 4 betting accounts, making the total amount of accounts surpass 100 million.
Increasing Share of People Consider Bets Their Additional Source of Income
30% of the analyzed Brazilians consider betting activities to be an additional source of income. Out of this segment, 31% will use the money received from gambling in order to finance their expenses related to the World Cup games. Also, 15% are planning to use profits from betting in order to repay their debts.
Guilherme Casagrande, financial educator at Creditas, warns people against such attitude and states that: “it is very dangerous to consider betting as a source of additional income” adding that “Brazil is the country where the largest number of funds was spent on betting in 2024.”
The survey demonstrates that the idea of betting as an additional income resource is shared by one out of three potential gamblers. The same opinion prevails among younger and indebted people, namely 48% and 44%, respectively.
Thus, Casagrande states that: “when you are in a bad situation, the risk does not matter at all. Gamblers think that maybe it works because, in case it does not, then there will be no problem except growing debt they already had.”
Commenting on this situation, Felipe Schepers, COO of Opinion Box, notes: “gamblers think that deep down they did not spend any money on the World Cup games, but actually they did because their profits financed the expenses.”
Spending Expectations Are Associated With Multiple Activities Related to the World Cup
As per the survey, 74% of respondents plan to spend money during the World Cup, whereas 80% admitted that this expense may happen spontaneously without any previous financial preparation.
Specifically, expenses related to food and drinks are expected to constitute the largest share of expenses and amount to 51%. Official merchandise accounts for 23%, and private parties 20%.
On the other hand, only 26% of respondents do not plan to incur any expenses related to this international event.
Source: BNL Data
