One More Bet: The Quiet Addiction Behind FIFA 2026

You said the last bet was the last one. Was it?

The match is tied, and your thumb is already on “Confirm.” You said the last bet was the last one, but the odds on this corner look good, and you want to win back what you dropped earlier. Just one more.

If you know that feeling, this is for you. Not to lecture you. It’s just that this exact loop, repeated over a month of football, is how something that started as fun slowly takes over. The 2026 World Cup runs 104 matches across 48 teams, which is a lot of nights and a lot of chances to keep going. So let’s actually talk about it.

Is this even a real problem in Lebanon, or am I overthinking it?

It’s real, and the numbers are local. A study of 477 Lebanese university students found that almost 6% showed signs of pathological gambling, and another 25% reported gambling-related problems. That’s roughly one student in three sitting somewhere on the harm scale (Etel et al., 2013). And that was before the financial collapse. A 2021 study that built the first Arabic version of a standard gambling screening tool noted that gambling and other mental health problems have been climbing in Lebanon since the economic crisis and COVID (Haddad et al., 2022). Which makes sense. People tend to bet more when money is tight and the future feels shaky.

Why would the World Cup make it worse than usual?

Because it turns betting from an occasional thing into a nightly habit. Sports bettors already carry higher odds of developing a gambling problem than people who don’t bet on sports, and betting through a phone app carries roughly triple the odds of problem-gambling symptoms compared to other formats, mostly because of speed. You can place another bet in seconds. Now add a World Cup on top: a match almost every night for a month, each one with “live” betting where you wager during the game on the next goal or card, a format itself linked to higher problem-gambling severity. The tournament hands you a built-in excuse and a steady supply of fresh chances to chase whatever you just lost.

My game is free. I’m only playing for points, not money. What’s wrong with that?

On its own, not much, and that’s worth understanding. There’s a whole free tier like FIFA’s official Match Predictor or ESPN’s bracket challenges, where you predict scores for points and bragging rights with nothing on the line. Local apps have leaned into it too. Toters, the delivery app most of us already have, ran a “Predict & Win” feature where guessing match results earns you trophies that turn into free deliveries and discounts. There’s no money at stake, and to be clear, none of this is gambling.

The catch is what it trains your brain to want. Points, leaderboards, “you were so close,” the small hit of almost winning. Those are the exact hooks real betting uses. Free games teach you the loop without the loss, so when a friend mentions an app where the points are actually cash, it doesn’t feel like a big jump. Something like LEBOM sits right on that edge: it looks like a friendly score-predictor you play with friends, but you put real money into the pot, which is why it carries age verification and “safer gambling” settings. The free game isn’t the danger. The easy slide from points to money is.

So what are people in Lebanon actually using for real-money betting?

This is where it gets complicated, and it helps to know how it works. Lebanon does have legal gambling: Casino du Liban, open since 1959, and the national lottery run by La Libanaise des Jeux, which was legalized in 2002 and covers the Loto draws, scratch games, and products like Zeed. Those are all above board. Online sports betting sits in a grey zone. Back in 2013, local reports indicated that courts had ordered those sites blocked to protect the casino’s monopoly, and local banks still won’t process payments to them.

So people go around it. They use VPNs to reach offshore bookmakers (the big international names like Bet365, 1xBet and Betway all take Lebanese users), and they move money with crypto, usually USDT, or e-wallets like Skrill and Neteller to stay outside the banking system. It feels clever, but it’s the riskiest part of the whole thing. You’re putting real, fresh dollars onto unregulated foreign sites with no local protection, no way to complain if your winnings never show up, and none of the deposit limits or self-exclusion tools that exist to stop people from going under. The anonymity that feels like freedom also means nobody’s watching out for you.

How do I know if I’ve crossed a line, or if a friend has?

A few honest signs. You’re betting more than you meant to, or topping up to break even. You’re chasing losses. You get restless or short-tempered when you can’t bet. You’ve started hiding it, lying about it, or borrowing to cover it. It’s eating into your sleep, your money, your studies, or the people close to you.

If a few of those land, that’s not weakness, it’s a known pattern and it can be treated. In Lebanon you can call the Embrace Lifeline on 1564 for free, confidential support, or talk to a doctor or counsellor. Telling one person you trust is usually the hardest part and also the thing that helps most.

The bottom line

Betting companies don’t make their money when you lose once. They make it when you keep coming back. That’s the whole design, and it’s why every part of it, from the free predictor to the live in-game notification, is built to keep you playing for the full month.

You can love this World Cup completely and still never hand a betting platform any power over your life. Watch the matches for the matches. Put your money, time and energy into things that give something back, like your studies, your work, your friends. The rush betting sells you lasts ninety minutes. The cost can follow you for years.

“He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have.”

– Socrates

The bet you’ll never regret is the one you didn’t place.