The Olympics have almost everything sportsbooks could ask for: huge audiences, national pride, recognizable stars, constant action, and dozens of events happening every day.

Yet Olympic betting has never really exploded in the United States the way you might expect. It remains a relatively small part of the sports betting calendar, especially compared to the NFL, March Madness, and other events built around sports Americans already follow year-round.

That could finally change when the Summer Olympics come to Los Angeles in 2028.

Paris Showed That Olympic Betting Is Growing

The 2024 Paris Olympics offered an early look at what is possible. The International Olympic Committee estimated that roughly €11 billion was wagered globally on Paris events, an increase of more than 20% from the Tokyo Games. Entain, which operates several international sportsbook brands, reported that its own Olympic betting volume doubled from Tokyo to Paris.

That is meaningful growth, but it did not necessarily turn the Olympics into a dominant U.S. betting event.

One problem was timing. Many of the biggest competitions took place while Americans were at work or before they woke up on the West Coast. Another was familiarity. Bettors might happily wager on Olympic basketball, soccer, golf, or tennis, but convincing casual customers to study fencing, handball, or canoe slalom odds is a much tougher sell.

The sheer size of the Olympics can also work against it. Instead of one obvious main event, sportsbooks are dealing with hundreds of competitions spread across more than two weeks. There is always something available to bet on, but it can be difficult to create the urgency of a Super Bowl or national championship game.

The World Cup Just Showed What Home Soil Can Do

The 2026 World Cup may provide the clearest argument that the Olympics can become much bigger.

American sportsbook activity around the North American-hosted tournament surged far beyond previous soccer benchmarks. DraftKings reported a 650% increase in total World Cup bets compared to 2022, while the Spain-Argentina final attracted roughly 2 million wagers on the platform alone. BetMGM and FanDuel also called the final their most-bet soccer match ever.

GeoComply recorded 765 million U.S. geolocation checks across the tournament. The final generated 14.7 million checks, nearly double the 7.9 million recorded for the 2022 final.

That is an unusually large jump for a sport that still sits below football, basketball, and baseball in the American betting hierarchy.

The location clearly mattered. Games were played at familiar times, American fans could attend in person, and the tournament was impossible to avoid on television and social media. Sportsbooks also had four more years to improve their soccer products, including live betting, player markets, parlays, and Spanish-language options.

The World Cup proved that American bettors do not necessarily need to follow a sport every week. Give them a major event on home soil, a strong national storyline, convenient viewing times, and enough simple betting markets, and plenty of them will participate.

LA28 will have all four.

The 2028 Program Is Much More Sportsbook-Friendly

The Los Angeles Olympics will also include several sports that appear almost specifically designed to attract American bettors.

Flag football will make its Olympic debut, while baseball and softball return to the program. Cricket, lacrosse, and squash have also been added.

Flag football could be particularly important. Even bettors who know nothing about international flag football understand touchdowns, point spreads, totals, and quarterback props. Baseball requires even less explanation. Add those sports to basketball, soccer, golf, tennis, and traditional Olympic favorites such as gymnastics and track, and sportsbooks will have a much more familiar product to promote.

There will also be a much larger established betting audience available. Sports betting is now live and legal in 39 states and Washington, D.C., giving operators access to a national customer base that barely existed during the 2016 Rio Olympics and was still developing during Tokyo.

Interest in the Olympics itself is not the problem, either. NBCUniversal’s Paris coverage averaged 30.6 million viewers across its combined live and primetime windows, an 82% increase from Tokyo. Streaming consumption also reached record levels.

The audience is already there. Sportsbooks just need to turn more of those viewers into bettors.

The Olympics Still Have a Ceiling

None of this means LA28 will suddenly challenge the Super Bowl as America’s biggest individual betting event.

Olympic audiences are fragmented across different sports, and many competitions still lack the statistics, recognizable athletes, and established betting markets that drive heavy action. State regulators may also restrict certain athlete props, especially in competitions involving younger participants.

But the Olympics do not need one Super Bowl-sized night to produce enormous volume. Like March Madness or the World Cup, the opportunity comes from giving customers something to bet on nearly every day.

Paris proved Olympic wagering is growing. The 2026 World Cup proved how much hosting an international event in the United States can accelerate that growth.

LA28 will combine both trends. It probably will not make the Olympics the biggest betting event in America, but it could turn them into a legitimate cornerstone of the summer sportsbook calendar for the first time.