The betting numbers from the World Cup haven’t been completely tabulated and are almost impossible to do so, but Bwin is offering some hints on the results of the most popular sports betting event in the world. The World Cup Final in South Africa drew more than 700 million viewers to see Spain beat the Netherlands 1-0.
The Austrian-based Bwin online sportsbook closed more than 30 million bets throughout the month of the tournament. The World Cup brought in 900,000 bettors, at a rate of 260,000 per day. Bwin’s turnover topped a record high €1.1 million per day. That revenue is more than double the size of the 2006 World Cup or any other sporting event. The most popular match was the semifinal between Spain and Germany. It drew more bets than the final game. William Hill reported the largest single bet, a £417,000 wager by a British punter. Ladbrokes and Coral reported more than $2 billion worth of wagers throughout the games. It was a big bet for South Africa as well, which sunk around $5.6 billion into the World Cup.
It’s estimated that FIFA earned $3.4 billion for the television and commercial rights. Brands like Nike, Adidas and Visa all saw a spike in profits. Visa reported a 74% jump in transactions, which helped bring more than $200 million to the South African economy. Adidas was the official sponsor of the World Cup, but battled Nike throughout the tournament. Both brands came out on top. Nike soccer ball sales have been up 40% since last quarter, with the Emerald brand leading the way at 55%. Adidas sold around 6.5 million replicas jerseys during the tournament, more than double what they sold in Germany in 2006. They also sold 13 million soccer balls, another record high. Twitter was another winner. The social networking tool averages around 750 tweets per second. During the World Cup, they peaked at a record high 3,085 tweets per second.