XQc bets half a million dollars on World Cup final—and cashes out at the worst possible time

The World Cup is the most-watched sporting event in the world, and today, xQc decided to bring his own brand of entertainment to the final this year. The Quebec native decided to make the World Cup more interesting by staking some money on France to beat Argentina—and he lost nearly half a million dollars in the process.

XQc posted about his bet, from which he stood to win over $1 million thanks to the eye-watering amount of money he put into it. But as the game actually began, it was Argentina that looked utterly dominant, quickly racing out to a two-goal lead in the first half thanks to goals from Lionel Messi and Angel Di Maria. It was a somewhat surprising start for France, the defending World Cup champs and a team loaded with talent, and clearly wasn’t what xQc expected, either.

Soon after France went down 2-0, xQc decided to cash out his bet, not taking his chances with the rest of the game and securing a $5,000 pity check instead. And that’s when all hell broke loose.

In the second half, Kylian Mbappe scored two goals in lightning-quick fashion to bring France back into the game, and then another one in extra time to tie the score with Argentina again after a second Messi goal seemed to seal the deal for Argentina. A game that looked like it was over became possibly the best World Cup game in the history of the sport—not that it helped xQc at all, who had already cashed in on his bet.

Ultimately, Argentina did win the match in a penalty shootout, so the bet wouldn’t have hit for xQc at the end of it, although he probably could’ve got considerably more money if he had cashed in after France scored a goal or two. And as a person who has received gambling sponsorships in the past, it’s quite possible that this massive bet was part of a sponsorship deal with a gambling company as well. Unfortunately for xQc (and any gambling company that may or may not have been involved), the exercise turned into a large advertisement on some of gambling’s dangers.

If you have a gambling problem and need help, the National Council on Problem Gambling could be a helpful resource. You can go through their website or call the National Problem Gambling Helpline Network.