How Caitlin Clark helped ignite ‘unprecedented’ WNBA gambling boom – and why that could help the league break into America’s big four

The seismic growth the WNBA experienced in 2024 wasn’t limited to a few more ticket sales or ad buys.

On the contrary, the arrival of rookie sensation Caitlin Clark has helped turn the NBA’s “little sister” into a sudden bull market with a 50 percent attendance spike, a 500 percent increase in merchandise sales, upcoming expansion teams and a brand-defining media deal. worth $200 million annually.

And with a record 54 million viewers in 2024 — including a record 1.18 million per game for Clark’s Indiana Fever — the league also saw a 60 percent increase in sponsors, according to Ad Age.

But the most intriguing metric for anyone betting on the future of the WNBA is gambling.

Once overlooked by NFL and college basketball-obsessed bettors, the WNBA saw a fourfold increase in FanDuel about the first 50 matches of 2024, the sportsbook’s general manager, Karol Corcoran, told DailyMail.com.

And in July, August and September – the heart of the WNBA season – US sportsbooks saw an overall increase of 42.4 percent compared to 2023, when bettors made $3.24 billion in bets, according to the American Gaming Association (AGA).

Now, Corcoran believes, the WNBA is positioned to compete with North America’s Big Four in American sportsbooks.

“We expect betting interest to continue to correspond with growing interest in the league,” Corcoran explained in an email to DailyMail.com. “As the roster of star players continues to grow and more players enter the league, we wouldn’t be surprised to see WNBA betting interest match interest in some of the traditional leading leagues.”

Not surprisingly, the bulk of WNBA betting has centered around the league’s Rookie of the Year, Clark, who became something of an obsession for noted gambler and Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy. Ultimately, Clark’s staunch supporter placed a doomed $100,000 bet on the 100-to-1 longshot Fever to win the WNBA title before defeating Indiana in the first round of the playoffs.

But Portnoy was hardly the only gambler to bet on Clark, who was particularly popular with prop bets.

A record-high 13 percent of WNBA bets on FanDuel were on Clark — seven times more than last year’s leader, A’Ja Wilson, pulled in in 2023, according to the sportsbook. Meanwhile, Clark’s rookie rival Angel Reese drew 5 percent of all WNBA prop bets on FanDuel during her impressive rookie season with the Chicago Sky.

Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese proved to be two of the biggest draws in WNBA history in 2024

A’Ja Wilson, one of the WNBA’s biggest stars, has also captured the interest of gamblers online

Dave Portnoy of Barstool Sports has become perhaps the most prominent WNBA bettor

To be fair, bettors’ interest in Clark and Reese predates their arrival in the WNBA.

Clark’s Iowa famously fell to Reese’s LSU in the 2023 NCAA Finals, which remains one of the highest rated women’s basketball games ever. And their 2024 rematch in the Elite 8 was even more popular, as a peak audience of 17.3 million viewers watched the Hawkeyes get revenge en route to a finals loss to South Carolina.

Clark and Reese began to attract the interest of gamblers during their NCAA days

Naturally, the popularity of those games translated to sports books.

“The growth in betting interest in women’s basketball has been going on for a few years, and we really saw it take off during the 2024 March Madness tournament,” Corcoran told DailyMail.com. “Iowa’s Elite Eight, Final Four and National Championship games broke records for the largest women’s sports betting on our platform on their respective days, and we’ve seen that momentum continue in the WNBA.”

And that momentum has helped create a clear opportunity for both sportsbooks and the league.

Studies such as the 2022 Variety Intelligence Platform have posited that sports gambling significantly boosts viewership for various competitions. In America alone, the survey found, 88 percent of avid gamblers said they watch sports regularly, while only 41 percent of non-gamblers did so.

That’s clearly good news for the WNBA as more bettors become familiar with the league.

However, it could mean even more for sportsbooks, which have largely catered to male customers since the Supreme Court cleared the way for the legalization of sports gambling on a state-by-state basis in 2018.

According to the AGA’s August survey, about a quarter of sports gambling participants are women. That clearly leaves a lot of room for growth, as 44 percent of WNBA fans are women, according to a YouGov.com Sports Index poll.

Attendance and merchandise sales have increased thanks to stars like Clark, Reese and Cameron Brink

Sportsbooks are usually a man’s domain, but thanks to the WNBA, that could change

Sportsbooks also directly generate interest in the league through various promotional offers. For example, at FanDuel, customers who bet on the ‘W’ received a free month of WNBA League Pass to help them stay up to date with Clark & ​​Co.

And now, FanDuel plans to expand its offerings for WNBA fans ahead of the 2025 season in anticipation of increased demand.

“As more fans become more familiar with the WNBA and athletes in the league, it will provide new opportunities for them to get involved,” Corcoran said. “More people are watching the WNBA and customers are searching for bets in real time. We are focused on meeting demand and offering our customers the most advanced product, with the markets and player accessories they are looking for.”

And as Corcoran sees it, that growth is a two-way street.

“For sports like the WNBA, our investment to expand our offerings engages more fans and contributes to the growth of the game,” he said.