Topline<\/p>\n
An online sports bettor who wagered $1 million that Spain would beat Cape Verde in the island nation’s first-ever World Cup match\u2014a bet with 92% odds when it was placed\u2014is out the massive sum after Cape Verde managed a shocking draw Monday. <\/p>\n
Steven Moreira #22 of Cabo Verde reacts after the 0-0 draw against Spani on June 15, 2026 in Atlanta.<\/p>\n
FIFA via Getty ImagesKey Facts<\/p>\n
Prediction market site Polymarket<\/a> reported shortly before the game started in Atlanta that someone put more than $999,000 on Spain to win the match. <\/p>\n Spain, one of the World Cup favorites, was far and away the predicted winner of the game against No. 67-ranked Cape Verde and, if Spain had managed to come out on top, the Polymarket bettor would have pocketed $85,943.48. <\/p>\n But the Cape Verdeans fought their way to an improbable 0-0 draw against the No. 2 team in the FIFA rankings in by far the most shocking result of the World Cup so far. <\/p>\n CONTRA<\/p>\n Another Polymarket bettor is having a much different day. A bettor with the username “fishalive” bet $400,000 that Spain wouldn\u2019t win\u2014and cashed out<\/a> at $4.7 million. <\/p>\n BIG NUMBER<\/p>\n 9%. Those were the odds the winning Polymarket bettor played on the way to his $4.7 million payday. <\/p>\n KEY BACKGROUND<\/p>\n Massive upsets are part of the tournament’s legacy, and this year’s is the first World Cup taking place when a clear majority of the U.S. population has legal access to sports betting. Research firm Eilers & Krejcik Gaming estimates<\/a> $4.4 billion will be wagered in the U.S. alone, up from $1.8 billion during the 2022 tournament. Dan Singer, head of McKinsey & Company\u2019s Sports and Gaming practice, told the New York Times<\/a> the amount of money being wagered could reach the level of \u201ceight to 10 Super Bowls.\u201d The Cape Verde game was the most shocking, but 1-1 draws between Qatar and Switzerland, and Morocco and Brazil, have also come as surprises at this year\u2019s World Cup. <\/p>\n further readingForbesWorld Cup Ads Face Unique Challenges, Opportunities This SummerBy John Cassillo<\/a>ForbesThe Highest-Paid Players At The 2026 World CupBy Brett Knight<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Topline An online sports bettor who wagered $1 million that Spain would beat Cape Verde in the island…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41015,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2266,17,12071,6475,369,19184,19183],"class_list":["post-41014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-cape-verde","tag-spain","tag-spain-world-cup","tag-sports-betting","tag-world-cup","tag-world-cup-bet","tag-world-cup-bet-polymarket"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}