GENEVA (AP) — FIFA added another gambling industry sponsor to the 2026 World Cup on Monday, signing Greece-based betting brand Betano to a regional deal covering Europe and South America.
Betano was the World Cup’s first-ever betting sponsor four years ago when parent company Kaizen Gaming signed a Europe-only deal for the 2022 edition in Qatar.
The value was not given for the new deal covering the 104-game tournament being played across the United States, Canada and Mexico from June 11.
“Since we first partnered with Betano four years ago, we have seen a genuine commitment to sporting integrity, bringing fans closer to our game and finding new, engaging ways to entertain them,” FIFA chief business officer Romy Gai said in a statement.
FIFA deepened its ties to betting and gambling with two other deals this year for a World Cup that is expected to earn more than $11 billion revenue for the soccer body.
Predictions market newcomer ADI Predictstreet signed as a top-tier World Cup partner last month in a deal reportedly worth $150 million. The Abu Dhabi-backed company had been founded the previous week in March and one day later got a gambling license in the British overseas territory Gibraltar, Norwegian magazine Josimar reported.
In January, FIFA announced a deal with data provider Stats Perform that will let some online betting operators livestream World Cup games. The agreement also gave exclusive betting rights to thousands of games worldwide organized by national soccer bodies and streamed live by FIFA.
FIFA has completed the commercial deals while its code of ethics formally prohibits players, officials and agents from taking part in “either directly or indirectly, betting, gambling, lotteries or similar events or transactions related to football matches or competitions.”
Betano also partnered with European soccer body UEFA to sponsor the men’s 2024 European Championship. The betting brand also sponsors the Europa League and pays to be on the jersey of English club Aston Villa which plays in the competition’s final on Wednesday.
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Aston Villa's John McGinn celebrates scoring their side's fourth goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Aston Villa and Liverpool in Birmingham, England, Friday, May 15, 2026. (Jacob King/PA via AP)
Soccer fan Joseph Pozdnakov has his photo taken during the FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour outside Truist Park before the Atlanta Braves host the Chicago Cubs in a baseball game, Thursday, May 14, 2026, in Atlanta. Eight FIFA World Cup soccer matches will be played in Atlanta.(AP Photo/Erik S. Lesser)
MECCA, Saudi Arabia (AP) — The annual Hajj pilgrimage, one of the Five Pillars of Islam, officially began Monday.
More than 1.5 million pilgrims have arrived in Saudi Arabia from outside the country, Saleh bin Saad Al-Murabba, commander of the Hajj passport forces, said Friday. The faithful have been pouring into the country for the Hajj against the backdrop of a tenuous ceasefire in the Iran war and related regional tensions and uncertainty.
Egyptian pilgrim Samya Abdul Moneim said she was grateful to God that she made it to the Hajj, which is required once in a lifetime of every Muslim who can afford it and is physically able to make it.
“I am in a state of blessing and happiness,” she said in Mecca on Sunday. “It’s an indescribable feeling, truly. I mean, thank God, I am in a blessing.”
Typically on the first day, many pilgrims in Mecca converge on a vast tent camp in the nearby desert. Ahead of that, pilgrims have been circling the cube-shaped Kaaba in the Grand Mosque in sweltering temperatures. For pilgrims, Hajj can be a deeply moving spiritual experience and a chance to seek God’s forgiveness and the erasure of past sins. Pilgrims perform the Hajj rituals over several days.
This Hajj "is, in effect, a hard reset for me,” Youssef Chouhoud, a political scientist at Christopher Newport University in Virginia, said Monday from the tent city of Mina. “I pray that I emerge on the other side of this journey with a new sense of purpose and the discipline to see it through.”
Around him, many pilgrims were resting and refueling, he said via WhatsApp, noting how demanding the pilgrimage is.
“It is for many pilgrims the most difficult thing they will ever do in their lives,” he said. “But nothing this meaningful is ever going to be easy.”
He found it inspiring “to see so many who have sacrificed so much to be here ... only to compete with one another in giving charity and helping each other along the way," he said. “All this in the hope that their intentions and actions may be accepted by their Lord.”
Many spend years hoping and praying to one day perform the Hajj or saving up money and waiting for a permit to embark on the trip.
As they brave the intense heat to perform religious rituals, many pilgrims have been using umbrellas for shade and carrying handheld fans. Volunteers hand out water bottles to help them stay hydrated and fans spray fine mists of water.
On Saturday, U.S. President Donald Trump said a deal with Iran on the war, including opening the Strait of Hormuz, has been “largely negotiated” after calls with Israel and other allies in the region. He described it as a “Memorandum of Understanding pertaining to PEACE” that still must be finalized by the United States, Iran and the other countries that participated in the calls. That capped a week in which the U.S. weighed a new round of attacks on Iran.
Ahead of the trip for Hajj, some have said they were leaning on their faith as they embark on the journey amid the tensions and that they were feeling immense gratitude for the opportunity to go.
Hajj brings together large numbers of Muslims of diverse races, ethnicities, languages and economic classes, creating a sense of unity for many.
With uncertainty and global concerns high, authorities in Indonesia, home to the world’s largest Muslim population, have in the run-up to the Hajj season emphasized contingency planning for the pilgrimage and issued instructions to ensure that additional travel costs not be passed on to Indonesian pilgrims.
In India, home to a large Muslim minority, pilgrimage planning has proceeded largely as normal, but high fuel prices have pushed up travel costs for pilgrims.
A reopening of the strait would begin to ease a worldwide energy crisis sparked by the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran on Feb. 28, which led Tehran to effectively close the waterway. Prices have spiked for oil, gas and several related products, jolting the world economy. The U.S. has blockaded Iranian ports for over a month, and Trump on Sunday said the blockade “will remain in full force and effect until an agreement is reached, certified, and signed.”
In response to the U.S.-Israeli attacks, Iran has launched retaliatory strikes and the conflict widened. A fragile ceasefire was reached in April.
In Saudi Arabia, pilgrims have been doing the ritual circuit around the Kaaba since arriving in Mecca over recent days. Pilgrims in Mina will camp there and pray and worship.
On Tuesday, in what is considered the pinnacle of the pilgrimage, the pilgrims will stand on the plain of Arafat, where they praise God, plead for forgiveness and make supplications. Many carry prayer requests from loved ones and raise their hands in worship with tears streaming down their faces.
Fam reported from Winter Park, Florida. Associated Press writers Niniek Karmini in Jakarta, Indonesia, and Sheikh Saaliq in New Delhi contributed to this report.
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
A group of Muslim pilgrims discuss the rituals of circumambulating the Kaaba, Islam's holiest site at the Grand Mosque during the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
A Muslim pilgrim reacts as a volunteer sprays water to cool them outside the Grand Mosque during the annual hajj pilgrimage at the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
A Muslim pilgrim prays in front of the Kaaba, Islam's holiest site in the holy city of Mecca during the annual hajj pilgrimage, Saudi Arabia, Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
This photograph made with a slow shutter speed shows Muslim pilgrims circumambulating the Kaaba, Islam's holiest site at the Grand Mosque during the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
A Muslim pilgrim splashes water over his head too cool down outside the Grand Mosque during the annual hajj pilgrimage at the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
