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The World Cup is underway, and it is a huge opportunity for sports betting in the United States, which is one of the hosts of the event. How big is that opportunity and what should we watch over the next month? I spoke with Brian Josephs, who is vice president of the Americas for sports data and technology company Sportradar.

For context:

The World Cup will likely be the biggest gambling event in history (CNBC): “The 2026 FIFA World Cup is expected to be the biggest betting event in history — and the first to test the U.S. sports-wagering market at full scale. … Analysts predict the betting opportunities could reshape customer acquisition for sportsbooks, prediction markets and the sports-data companies that power them. Global wagers on the 2026 World Cup could top $50 billion, up from more than $35 billion during the 2022 tournament according to Macquarie analyst Chad Beynon.”

Press release to accompany this week's podcast:

NEW YORK – June 8, 2026 – EDGE Markets, a financial services company that creates products for alternative financial markets in the gaming, crypto and prediction markets’ space, announced today that it closed a $29.2 million Series A round. CoinFund led the round, alongside Indicator Ventures, Mantis VC, Stepstone Group, and Bullpen Capital. 

With this funding, EDGE Markets is expanding its offerings to introduce EDGE Pro, the first high throughput deposit accounts for market makers that enable seamless, real-time deposits into all CFTC regulated exchanges. EDGE Pro solves the two largest friction points for institutional capital to scale: multi-liquidity pool post-execution settlement and margin.  To enable this solution, EDGE Markets is actively pursuing both an Introducing Broker and Future Commission Merchant registrations with the National Futures Association. These registrations will allow EDGE Pro users to execute orders directly through their EDGE Pro accounts and conduct post-execution settlement across various liquidity pools to dramatically amplify capital efficiencies vs. the current model where all trading accounts need to be prefunded and fully collateralized. Finally, EDGE Pro users will be able to plug and play existing margin from third party prime brokerages. To sign up for early access to EDGE Pro, market makers can visit www.edgemarkets.io/pro.

“The core vision of EDGE Markets has always been to decrease friction for capital to flow in regulated markets.  With the high velocity growth of prediction markets, we are excited to build and support the core infrastructure for traders to efficiently scale their activity.  There are many talented groups building exchanges, but we’re building the base station for capital allocation, to address their real needs,” said Seni Thomas, Founder and CEO, EDGE Markets. 

The new funding will also go towards launching EDGE Connect; the industry’s first purpose built payment rail, engineered specifically for the regulated gaming and prediction market ecosystems. EDGE Connect will replace traditional consumer rails with a real-time network that will deliver significantly lower transaction costs for operators by only charging a fee on Net New Deposits over a 24-48 hour period. EDGE Connect significantly reduces churn costs, eliminates chargebacks, and provides users with a faster, more secure experience. Back testing with major operators has shown a 70%+ cost reduction in payment processing fees. EDGE Connect also supports high throughput Real Time Payments (RTP) at no cost for EDGE users or operators to push funds into their accounts 24/7/365.  RTP is supported by the majority of banks in the US and requires no integration from operators. To support the early growth of the prediction market ecosystem, both EDGE Connect for operators and EDGE Pro for market makers will be provided at no cost for all early users and operators in 2026. 

“The biggest moments in gaming and prediction markets happen on nights and weekends, exactly when the banking system slows to a crawl. EDGE built the rails to match that reality. And, as institutions start to participate in these markets seriously, the ability to move capital in size, in real time, any day of the week, stops being a nice-to-have and becomes table stakes. We think EDGE becomes the default settlement layer for an entirely new category of financial markets,” said Alex Felix, Co-Founder, Managing Partner and CIO of CoinFund. 

Since its launch a year ago, EDGE Markets’ VISA debit program, EDGE Boost, has processed over two billion in transactions to date, making it one of the fastest growing debit cards in the history of VISA. The company has also partnered with ZeroHash to introduce a compliant crypto-to-USD conversion path for users, ensuring a seamless ability to access funds. As the only banking platform dedicated to the gaming and prediction market industries, EDGE Boost offers instant access to funds with no hidden fees, or pain points associated with gaming and traditional banks. EDGE Boost separates these funds from every day finances and gives users tools to track and control their spending across multiple operators. Proprietary research conducted by EDGE Boost in partnership with Betting Hero found that 85% of high-value gaming users expressed interest in a financial product tailored specifically to gaming. 

About EDGE Markets 

EDGE Markets is a U.S. banking solution that empowers users with financial transparency, supporting emerging verticals such as betting, gaming, and casinos. Its original product, EDGE Boost, is the first responsible financial platform for smart bettors. It is the first betting-only debit card account that is FDIC insured up to $250,000*. As a neutral, third-party, EDGE Boost provides financial segmentation and a holistic view to bettors for all their financial betting data, with custom tools, like personalized spending limitations and cashback incentives, available to help all bettors be more responsible. Customers experience frictionless and instant betting that is compatible with almost any online or physical betting platform. 

BetHog — a company started by FanDuel founder Nigel Eccles — announced a $10 million Series A financing round. As part of the raise, BetHog also launched Sentient Studios, which is “a new B2B provider that enables casino operators to deploy AI-powered dealers across their live online casino offerings.”

I had Eccles on the podcast to talk about the raise and where the cryptocurrency casino, sportsbook, and new studio are headed.

Eccles and I also talked about what he learned from his time at FanDuel, disruption in online gambling in the United States, and, of course, everyone’s favorite topic of prediction markets.

ROGA: https://www.responsibleonlinegaming.org

Anita's book came out this week, not on March 3, which you can check out here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1068480645

More about Randy's issues with gambling: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMFC5z4oPoc

And the post I referenced in the open: https://howgamblingworks.substack.com/p/who-wants-to-bet-on-the-oscars

Want to come to Next.io New York City? Get your tickets here, and use code TCL0L10FU3V for a 10% discount.

Some notes on the first part of the podcast:

• Yesterday’s Closing Line.

Some polls that have addressed Americans’ concerns about integrity

• Yahoo

• Ipsos

• Quinnipiac

• The NFL’s video about the season being scripted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlNDNrfwZr0

Prediction markets – and sports betting – are going to be in every app with a wallet at the current rate. Fake news or the coming reality? I take a look at recent events and the future for prediction market integrations.

THE EFFECTS OF THE HYPER-GLOBALIZATION OF LEGALIZED SPORTS BETTING ON MATCH-FIXING AND COMPETITION MANIPULATION IN THE OLYMPICS https://scholars.law.unlv.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?params=/context/glj/article/1228/&path_info=Helgren_The_Effects_of_the_Hyper_Globalization....pdfA brief timeline of US sports betting scandals https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/46758802/betting-crime-player-bans

For backstory:

Here’s my story on Kalshi/Polymarket + NHL.

Here’s the full NHL press release.

And here is my post on DraftKings acquiring Railbird.

Some posts I reference in the pod:

https://nexteventhorizon.substack.com/p/more-times-kalshi-said-you-could-bet

https://closingline.substack.com/p/the-takeaway-nothing-is-gambling

More background for today's pod: https://nexteventhorizon.substack.com/p/everything-cftc-pick-quintenz-said

More background for today's pod: https://nexteventhorizon.substack.com/p/think-tank-to-cftc-on-prediction-markets

Read this for more background:

Background reading: https://nexteventhorizon.substack.com/p/si-predict-new-global-prediction-market

Reports: New Orleans hoops suspensions over gambling probe

Fresno State holds out players; sources confirm betting inquiry

Reports: Temple’s connection to a probe into unusual gambling activity may be part of wider ring

Reports: New Orleans hoops suspensions over gambling probe

Fresno State holds out players; sources confirm betting inquiry

Reports: Temple’s connection to a probe into unusual gambling activity may be part of wider ring

Source material, required reading for some context on today's postcast! https://igamingbusiness.com/sports-betting/online-sports-betting/californias-tribes-wont-try-for-wagering-26/

Show notes, basically just a bunch of links to coverage of yesterday’s hearing so you can see how it was covered in the mainstream and in the gambling industry:

Me

New York Times

ESPN

NPR

Legal Sports Report

Sports Betting Dime

Straight to the Point

Why do we see so much going on in the gray market right now for online gambling? Part of it’s because DraftKings and FanDuel paved the way. I delve more into it in today’s mini-podcast.

Show notes:

• Here’s the agenda for the NCLGS meeting this week in New Orleans, which includes a discussion about sweepstakes.

• Here is a little of the background on the pushback on the sweeps industry.

• Someone should write a book about the lobbying effort to get dozens of daily fantasy sports and sports betting laws passed around the country over about a six-year period. It was fascinating to watch it unfold in real time.