The United States are onto the knockout round of the World Cup.
Plenty of US fans can rejoice as the Americans are now playing with house money.
But for some bettors, the tournament is just getting started. The United States are the biggest liability at BetMGM for World Cup futures.
The USMNT is getting 10.7% of the tickets and account for 5.9% of the handle of title bets.
Those aren't necessarily significant percentages, but when they are bet on at 100-1 as compared to the other favorites, they become a massive liability for the books.
The United States moved from 100-1 to 80-1 after beating Iran and advancing to the knockout round. There was one bettor at BetMGM who placed a $3,000 wager to win $300,000 on the US to win the World Cup hours before the Iran match.
For BetMGM, the other two major liabilities are Brazil and Argentina.
Argentina account for a huge chunk of the handle at 21.2%. They are getting 14.8% of the bets.
Brazil also hold a significant amount of the handle at 17.3%. Seleção have gotten 12.5% of the bets so far. Both teams are still alive in the tournament.
The biggest liability that is now out of the tournament is Denmark. They got bounced on Wednesday after losing to Australia. The Danes were getting 1.5% of the bets to win the World Cup and accounted for 0.9% of the handle. Bets on Denmark had cooled during the tournament.
On Nov. 15, Denmark accounted for 7.9% of the handle at BetMGM.
Canada were also getting some significant action at BetMGM and have been eliminated from the tournament. They still account for 2.1% of the bets and 1.6% of the handle.
Spain, Germany, Belgium, Uruguay and Mexico are just a few countries that have a chance of getting eliminated in the group stage which would help take some liability off of the sportsbooks' shoulders.
We all know they need it.
