During the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, researchers at the University of Sheffield tracked the betting behavior of men aged 18–45 in England across every match of the tournament. Their finding was striking: the frequency of football betting was 16% to 24% higher during matches broadcast on channels carrying gambling advertising, compared to games shown on ad-free channels. But the advertising was only part of the equation. The other variable nobody discussed enough was the screen itself, specifically whether bettors were watching the game live while placing their wagers.

That question has become the central tension in modern soccer betting. With the global sports betting market valued at roughly $100.9 billion in 2024 and projected to climb past $187 billion by 2030, millions of bettors now try to Win by Prediction while a match unfolds on their screen. The collision between live streaming technology and in-play wagering is reshaping how people bet on football and whether watching the game actually makes them better at it.

The 60% Shift Nobody Predicted

A decade ago, the vast majority of soccer bets were placed before kickoff. You studied the form, checked the injury reports, picked your side, and waited. That model is effectively dead.

Live/in-play betting now commands approximately 59.58% of the global online sports betting market and is projected to grow at a 14.27% compound annual growth rate through 2030, according to Mordor Intelligence's 2024 analysis. The International Betting Integrity Association estimated that 47% of all sports bets placed in 2024 were in-play wagers.

Soccer, with its continuous 45-minute halves and constantly shifting momentum, is ideally suited to this format. Football accounts for 36.58% of all online sports betting revenue globally, and nearly 50% of European sports betting revenue comes from the sport. The two-hour window of a match gives bettors a prolonged decision-making period that American football's stop-start pace simply can't replicate.

What Watching Actually Does to Your Betting

Here's the uncomfortable truth: watching a soccer match live while betting on it does not, by default, make you a better bettor. It makes you a more active one. Those are two very different things.

A study published in the Journal of Gambling Studies (Lamont, Hing and Vitartas, 2016) found that live odds updates during sports events prompted bettors into placing impulse bets, particularly when the odds appeared favorable and involved their favorite team. A separate study (Khazaal et al., 2012) tested whether expertise translated into predictive accuracy and found that professional soccer players, coaches, and journalists were no more successful at predicting match outcomes than non-professionals.

There are, however, specific scenarios where visual information genuinely helps. Experienced bettors who watch live streams report being able to identify situations that statistics alone can't capture:

• A defender limping slightly but not yet substituted, signaling vulnerability on that flank
• A shift in tactical formation (say, from a 4-3-3 to a 5-4-1 around the 60th minute) that typically signals a parking-the-bus approach, making under 2.5 goals more likely
• A goalkeeper distributing poorly under pressure, indicating nervous energy before a concession
• The pressing tempo, visible only by watching, which correlates with late-game fatigue and second-half goals

These are qualitative reads that require a level of tactical knowledge well beyond casual fandom.

The Latency Problem That Costs Real Money

The biggest technical barrier between live streaming and profitable in-play betting is latency. Standard IPTV and streaming services deliver soccer broadcasts with delays ranging from 5 to 76 seconds behind real-time. YouTube TV was measured at 54 seconds behind during the last Super Bowl. Even traditional cable runs 6 to 8 seconds behind, according to SIS, the UK-based streaming provider serving bookmakers like Ladbrokes, William Hill, and Betfred.

Sportsbooks receive their data feeds within fractions of a second. This asymmetry is the most important and most ignored factor in live soccer betting performance. A bettor watching on a standard stream who sees a dangerous free kick may rush to bet on the next goal; the bookmaker's algorithms already know the outcome, and the odds have moved.

Dolby OptiView published data showing a horse racing platform that reduced stream latency from 12 seconds to 500 milliseconds saw a 29% increase in average watch time. "When you get into sub 2 seconds you're in the same ball park," said SIS Head of Streaming Dave Gill.

Where Streaming Helps (and Where It Hurts)

The honest assessment comes down to a split. Here's what behavioral research and market data suggest:

Streaming helps when bettors use it to confirm or deny pre-match hypotheses during the first 20 minutes, identify tactical shifts that statistical feeds miss, avoid certain bets by recognizing mismatched dynamics, and select broader markets (total goals, both teams to score) less affected by latency.

Streaming hurts when bettors react emotionally to goals or red cards, chase shifted odds, place micro-bets on delayed streams where the bookmaker is already ahead, increase wager frequency simply because they're visually engaged, or confuse the feeling of "reading the game" with an actual statistical edge.

The Gambling Commission's data consistently shows that individuals who bet in-play are more likely to be categorized as problem gamblers. A 2023 psychosocial study (Kim et al.) found that combining alcohol consumption with in-play betting was associated with a 9.8x increase in the likelihood of experiencing betting-related financial harms. Watching a match live while wagering creates a feedback loop that can become difficult to interrupt.

The 2026 World Cup Will Test Everything

The 2026 FIFA World Cup, hosted across the United States, Mexico, and Canada, will be the first major tournament played in a fully mature North American sports betting market. According to a National Research Group study from February 2026, sports fans of all ages (except Baby Boomers) now prefer streaming platforms over traditional TV for watching sports. Gen Z bettors are placing wagers more often than any other demographic group.

This convergence of streaming access, legal betting infrastructure, and a globally watched soccer tournament will produce the highest-volume live betting event in history. Every match available on multiple screens; every screen with live odds a tap away. Platforms like live casino at BetFury that integrate entertainment and wagering on a single screen understand that the future is a unified experience where watching and betting happen simultaneously.

The question isn't whether people will bet while streaming the World Cup. The question is whether watching will improve their results. Based on the research, the answer is conditional. Bettors who treat the stream as one input among several (alongside statistical models and disciplined bankroll management) will benefit. Bettors who treat it as their primary tool will likely lose more than they would have betting blind.

A Practical Framework for the Streaming Bettor

For those who want to bet smarter while using live streams, the approach that aligns with research looks straightforward: place primary bets pre-match based on data, use the stream to confirm your read during the opening 20 minutes, and restrict in-play wagers to broad markets where a 10-to-30-second delay matters less.

Accepting the latency gap rather than fighting it is the single most practical adjustment a bettor can make. The bookmakers have faster data. That's the game. But they don't have your eyes on the pitch, and in specific, narrow situations, that still counts for something.

Less than 3% of regular sports bettors report profits over six months. Less than 1% sustain profitability long-term. Live streaming doesn't change those numbers on its own. What it changes is the experience, and whether that experience leads to better decisions or just more of them depends entirely on the person holding the phone.