GeoComply hails FIFA World Cup final as second most-popular sport event in the US

GeoComply, the Vancouver-based geolocation and compliance expert, has collated and presented data about the 2022 FIFA World Cup final game between Argentina and France. The stunning game that saw France’s Kylian Mbappé score two points back-to-back within two minutes, and put the game back on track, was one of the greatest finals in the history of the events.

This year, GeoComply saw 7.9m geolocation transactions during the game. While the event was under the 23.5m transactions registered during last February’s Super Bowl, the game was still ahead of the NCAA March Madness final game which came with 4.8m transactions, and even ahead of the 5.1m geolocation transactions that took place during the NBA final game.

This puts FIFA World Cup’s final as the second most popular event in the US. The company’s VP of Business Development for North American Gaming Sam Basile said that while Americans don’t like soccer, they certainly showed a remarkable interest in the World Cup’s crowning game. The company’s in-depth breakdown offered a ton of insight into how American punters engage with soccer and this FIFA World Cup in particular.

The game between the United States and England did in fact turn out to be the most watched soccer game on English-speaking TV in the country, GeoComply confirmed. "GeoComply’s data disproves the myth that Americans are not interested in The Beautiful Game," Basile added.

In terms of consumer betting, GeoComply said that there were 1.7m unique bettors on the World Cup final in the United States, under the 3.1m registered for the Super Bowl, but still ahead of the 1.1m bettors for the NCAA final, 1m bettors for the NBA final, and not least – the 500,000 for the NHL Stanley Cup final.

Another big factor in the surging interest in soccer in the United States has to do with the fact that the country has been legalizing sports gambling rapidly. Since PASPA was struck down in 2018, there have been dozens of states to press on with gambling regulation. Next year, there will be a handful more with Ohio and Massachusetts both seeking to launch after the turn of the year.

Ohio is due to roll out sports betting on January 1, 2023, and is estimated to be one of the biggest upcoming gambling markets for sports, too, and even overtake established markets such as New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Image credit: GeoComply