According to CNBC, the winner of the World Cup – France, this time – takes home at least $38 million in prize money. This number arrives after the FIFA organization raised the total funding contributions in 2017: $400 million of which will be used as prize money for participating teams. Indeed, this is a tremendous amount of money, but it’s infinitesimally tiny relative to how much business shifts due to this quadrennial event. For those who leave work to watch the World Cup, is insurance necessary?

Employees watching the World Cup during or after times of normal employment can result in massive losses for companies. The research organization Ipsos Mori states “nearly one in four respondents say they will skip work because of the World Cup.” This affects the UK’s financial bottom line enormously.

FreeAgent’s Ed Moly remarks: “During this World Cup, the combined cost of sick days, unauthorised leave and employees surreptitiously watching games in the office when they should be working could well be in the billions.”

Losses in the billions seem like an exaggeration, but that is certainly not the case. The International Travel & Health Insurance Journal had estimates that around 10,000 people would be travelling from the UK to Russia for at least one of the World Cup games. As is the effect from sports and alcohol, mistakes are generally made, so individuals should definitely purchase travel insurance. The EHIC (European Health Insurance Card) used to provide health insurance for free for UK citizens, but that has currently stopped, leading many to forgo insurance entirely.

This seems like trite advice that is repeated often without any evidence of why travel insurance is actually necessary. The Association of British Insurers mentions three scenarios when travel insurance made a drastic difference in someone’s life post-accident: “A woman who spent six days in hospital to recover from a stroke and needed a nurse to accompany her back to the UK had her £28,000 medical bill paid by her travel insurer. A man who suffered a heart attack had his £22,000 medical bill covered by travel insurance. Travel insurance paid the £20,000 medical bill for treating a blocked intestine.”

Making sure to check whether the insurance covers everything you need is mandatory, but insurance for your possessions is often not included. For something that covers all your belongings, contents insurance would be better priced and would secure your gadgets too.

For instance, according to GoCompare, insurance companies can provide three different levels of covers for contents insurance: bronze, silver, and gold. A bronze package insures you for three items with cover up to £1000, silver works for five devices and covers up to £2000, and gold is ideal for seven devices with a total cover of nearly £3000.

This is just one example of how insurance companies can provide contents insurance, but at Tapoly, we strive to make the process easier and quicker for freelancers. If you’re interested in contents insurance, we’re always willing to answer any questions. Judging from these events and the amount of money that was covered by their insurers, there is a real reason for purchasing insurance especially before travelling to an event like the World Cup.