Official Rules — FIFA World Cup 2026 Sweepstakes

1. Overview

These rules govern the Sweepstakes, But Better sweepstakes for the FIFA World Cup 2026. Each participant receives a randomly allocated portfolio of national teams. The final payout is determined by two separate mechanisms — a portfolio pot and a regular prize pot — which are combined and paid out at the conclusion of the tournament.

2. Entry and Allocation

1. Each participant is allocated one or more national teams at random. Allocations are private and not disclosed to other participants until the portfolio lock deadline.
2. Participants may adjust the weighting of their team allocations (their portfolio) before the lock deadline. A minimum of 1% of a participant's stake must be assigned to at least one team.
3. The portfolio lock deadline is Thursday, 11 June 2026 at 20:00. This is the server timestamp and is authoritative. A browser left open before kickoff does not extend this deadline.
4. After the lock deadline, all portfolios are fixed and revealed. No changes are permitted under any circumstances.

3. Prize Pot Structure

The total entry pool is divided equally between two pots at the start of the tournament:

• Portfolio Pot (50%):Distributed according to each participant's portfolio value at the end of the tournament. Portfolio value is determined by team bank movements throughout the tournament (see Section 4).
• Regular Prize Pot (50%): Distributed according to the finishing position of teams held by each participant (see Section 5).

4. Portfolio Pot and Team Bank Mechanics

Each team begins the tournament with an equal share of the portfolio pot, forming its team bank. Match results cause value to move between team banks according to the rules below. A team's bank value cannot fall below zero; no transfer will take more value than a team currently holds.

4.1 Win / Loss

When a match produces a winner and a loser, the loser's bank transfers value to the winner's bank. The base transfer rate is 20%of the loser's bank, modified as follows:

• Each goal scored by the winning team adds 5% to the outgoing transfer rate.
• Each goal scored by the losing team sends 5%back from the winner's bank to the loser's bank. A losing team can therefore claw back value by scoring.
• If the winning team keeps a clean sheet, an additional 5% clean-sheet bonus is applied to the outgoing transfer.

Example: a 3-1 result in the group stage. Base rate: 20%. Winner scored 3 goals: +15%. Loser scored 1 goal: −5%. Net outgoing rate from loser: 30%. No clean-sheet bonus applies.

4.2 Draw

In a drawn match, each team sends 10% of its bank to the other, plus 5% per goal it scored. Because the banks may be different sizes, a draw can still produce a net movement of value.

4.3 Stage Multipliers

Transfer rates are multiplied by a stage factor to reflect the increasing significance of later rounds:

• group: 1×
• R32: 1.1×
• R16: 1.2×
• QF: 1.4×
• SF: 1.75×
• Final: 2×

The multiplier applies to the entire transfer rate for that match, including goal adjustments and the clean-sheet bonus. A transfer can never exceed the full balance of the sending bank.

4.4 Elimination Freeze

When a team is eliminated from the knockout stage, its remaining bank value is frozen. Frozen value no longer participates in further transfers and is distributed to holders of that team in proportion to their portfolio weighting at the point of elimination. Frozen value is included in final portfolio payouts.

4.5 Portfolio Payout

At the conclusion of the tournament, each participant's share of the portfolio pot equals their proportional holding across all team banks — including both live and frozen value — relative to the total portfolio pot.

5. Regular Prize Pot

The regular prize pot (50% of the total entry pool) is divided between participants whose teams finish in the following positions. Where multiple participants hold the same team, the prize for that position is shared between them in proportion to their portfolio weighting in that team.

If no participant holds a team finishing in a prize position (for example, no one holds the champion), that prize is redistributed equally across all other prize positions according to the largest-even-subset rule.

6. Final Payout

Each participant's final payout is the sum of their portfolio pot share and their regular pot share. Payouts are calculated and issued within a reasonable time after the tournament final.

7. Disputes and Amendments

1. The host's determination of match results is final for the purposes of calculating transfers. Where official results are corrected, the host may update the record accordingly.
2. These rules may be amended before the portfolio lock deadline with notice to all participants. No amendments may be made after the lock deadline.
3. In any situation not covered by these rules, the host's decision is final.