Sport
How To Bet On The 2026 Commonwealth Games At William Hill
A look ahead to the 2026 Commonwealth Games, with William Hill News providing this informative guide on how to bet on the event and the format this summer.
The 2026 Commonwealth Games will take place in Glasgow from 23 July to 2 August, bringing the event back to Scotland for the second time in 12 years.
Glasgow stepped in after Victoria, Australia withdrew in 2024, which left organisers with a compact planning window and a smaller, more focused programme.
Commonwealth Games betting tips
William Hill will offer a range of markets across a variety of events and disciplines at the 2026 Commonwealth Games, with punters able to place a bet on this summer’s competition in Glasgow.
In addition, readers will have access to a heap of Commonwealth Games content on our blog, with tips and predictions on the biggest events taking place throughout the Games.
Where the Games are being held
Glasgow is hosting the Games across four main venues: Scotstoun Stadium, Tollcross International Swimming Centre, Glasgow International Arena and the Scottish Event Campus, which includes the Hydro, SEC Armadillo and SEC Centre.
The opening ceremony is set for the OVO Hydro on Thursday 23 July, with the closing ceremony taking place on Sunday 2 August.
That setup keeps the competition within an eight-mile corridor, which makes the event easier to follow for fans moving between sessions and gives the Games a tighter city-centre feel. It is also a very different model from the sprawling version many fans remember from larger editions.
Why this edition is smaller
Glasgow 2026 will feature 10 sports and 215 medal events, a clear reduction from the 17 sports staged when Glasgow last hosted in 2014.
Rugby sevens, hockey and cricket were dropped after the host change, and the result is a streamlined schedule designed around venues that already exist.
Around 3,000 athletes from 74 countries are expected to compete, with Togo and Gabon appearing in the Games for the first time.
The smaller field does not reduce the importance of the event, but it does change its shape, making every session a bit more concentrated and every medal race easier to track.
Sports on the programme
The sport list is built around a mix of Olympic-style disciplines and team events, with Para sport integrated into several of them.
- Athletics*
- Swimming*
- Artistic Gymnastics
- Track Cycling*
- Netball
- Weightlifting*
- Boxing
- Judo
- Bowls*
- 3×3 Basketball*
*Para Events Included
The para programme includes six fully integrated Para Sports, and the organisers have positioned the event as accessible and compact rather than sprawling.
That matters for fans who want a simple broadcast schedule and for spectators who prefer a venue-hopping weekend without half the city’s transport map glued to their hand.
Key athletes to watch
Glasgow 2026 has a strong headline cast despite the reduced size of the Games.
Mollie O’Callaghan arrives as the world record holder for the 200m freestyle and the Olympic champion from Paris 2024, while Adam Peaty, now competing under his married name Adam Ramsay-Peaty, and Tom Dean are among the major swimming names.
Athletics will feature Jake Wightman, the former world 1,500m champion, while Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson-Herah is set to defend her sprint titles.
In judo, Sarah Adlington is aiming for a third +78 kg gold in what she has said will be her final professional competition.
That mix gives the Games a proper headline feel even without the bigger programme seen in past editions. The difference is that the focus is narrower, so the stars on show should stand out more sharply across the broadcast and in the stadium.
How to watch and buy tickets
In the UK, the Games will be shown on TNT Sports and Channel 5, with the BBC ending its 72-year run of broadcasting the event. TNT Sports has secured live coverage, while Channel 5 will carry a daily highlights package.
Tickets are available through the official Glasgow 2026 ticketing platform, with session prices starting at £17 for some less popular sports and rising to three figures for medal events in athletics and swimming.
If you are planning to go, buying through the official channel is the cleanest route and the safest way to avoid problems at the gate.
What makes Glasgow 2026 different
This edition will feel more compact, more local and more deliberate than the grander Commonwealth Games many fans have seen before.
The venues are familiar, the schedule is short, and the whole event is built around existing infrastructure rather than new construction.
That gives Glasgow a chance to deliver a fast-moving Games that is easier for fans to follow and simpler for athletes and broadcasters to manage. For anyone who likes sport with a bit of atmosphere and not too much faff, that is no bad thing.
