Fraud expert comment on 2026 World Cup

George Pace, Fraud Expert at SEON

“The World Cup will be one of the biggest stress tests for fraud teams in betting and gaming. Promotion abuse and loyalty abuse already account for a significant share of fraud losses, and that’s before you factor in the World Cup surge. Logins, registrations and transactions will all spike at the same time, while operators compete aggressively with welcome bonuses and free bets.

“Most attention goes to welcome bonus fraud, but that’s only a one-time hit. The bigger risk is retention abuse. It creates an ongoing revenue stream for fraudsters and often goes unnoticed for longer, especially during high-volume events.

“When thousands of legitimate, high-value players become active at once, fraudsters don’t need to be particularly sophisticated. They just need to blend in with normal behavior, making detection harder at the exact moment teams are already stretched.

“Recent data shows many operators aren’t prepared for this shift. Already, 57% report fraud losses growing faster than revenue, a gap that only widens during high-volume events like the World Cup. Operators that only protect the front door are going to get robbed through the back.”