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

The seismic maturation the WNBA enjoyed successful 2024 wasn't constricted to a fewer much summons income oregon advertisement buys.

Rather, the accomplishment of rookie sensation Caitlin Clark helped alteration the NBA's 'little sister' into a abrupt bull marketplace with a 50-percent spike successful attendance, 500-percent summation successful merchandise sales, forthcoming enlargement teams, and a brand-defining media woody worthy $200 cardinal annually.

And with a grounds 54 cardinal viewers successful 2024 – including a league-high 1.18 cardinal per crippled for Clark's Indiana Fever – the league besides enjoyed a 60-percent leap successful sponsors, according to Ad Age.

But the astir intriguing metric for anyone betting connected the WNBA's aboriginal is, well, betting.

Once overlooked by NFL- and assemblage basketball-obsessed gamblers, the WNBA saw a four-fold summation connected FanDuel over the archetypal 50 games of 2024, the sportsbook's wide manager Karol Corcoran told DailyMail.com.

And implicit July, August and September – the bosom of the WNBA play – American sports books enjoyed a 42.4-percent wide summation compared to 2023 arsenic gamblers laid down $3.24 cardinal successful bets, according to the American Gaming Association (AGA).

Now, Corcoran believes, the WNBA is positioned to vie with North America's 'Big Four' astatine US sports books.

'We expect betting involvement to proceed to correspond with the increasing involvement successful the league,' Corcoran explained successful an email to DailyMail.com. 'As prima players proceed to turn their followings and much look passim the league, we would not beryllium amazed to spot WNBA betting involvement lucifer with involvement successful immoderate of the accepted starring leagues.'

Unsurprisingly, the bulk of WNBA wagering has centered astir the league's Rookie of the Year, Clark, who became thing of an obsession for noted gambler and Barstool Sports founder, Dave Portnoy. Ultimately the unwavering Clark protagonist placed a doomed $100,000 bet connected the 100-to-1 longshot Fever to triumph the WNBA rubric earlier Indiana's first-round playoff defeat.

But Portnoy was hardly the lone gambler wagering connected Clark, who was peculiarly fashionable successful prop bets.

A league-high 13 percent of WNBA prop bets connected FanDuel centered connected Clark — 7 times much than past year's leader, A'Ja Wilson, garnered successful 2023, according to the sportsbook. Meanwhile, Clark's rookie rival Angel Reese attracted 5 percent of each WNBA prop bets connected FanDuel during her awesome rookie play with the Chicago Sky.

Truthfully, gamblers' involvement successful Clark and Reese predates their accomplishment successful the WNBA.

Clark's Iowa famously fell to Reese's LSU successful the 2023 NCAA Finals, which remains 1 of the highest-rated women's hoops games ever played. And their 2024 rematch successful the Elite 8 was adjacent much popular, arsenic a highest assemblage of 17.3 cardinal viewers watched the Hawkeyes nonstop revenge en way to a Finals nonaccomplishment to South Carolina.

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

'The maturation successful betting involvement successful women's hoops has been happening for a mates of years, and we truly saw it instrumentality disconnected during the 2024 March Madness tournament,' Corcoran told DailyMail.com. 'Iowa's Elite Eight, Final Four and National Championship games broke records for the biggest women's sports betting events connected our level connected their respective days, and we've seen that momentum transportation into the WNBA.'

And that momentum has helped crystalize a wide accidental for some sportsbooks and the league.

Studies specified arsenic the 2022 Variety Intelligence Platform person posited that sports gambling importantly drives viewership for assorted leagues. In America alone, the survey revealed, 88 percent of avid bettors said they regularly ticker sports, whereas conscionable 41 percent of non-gamblers did so.

That's evidently bully quality for the WNBA arsenic much gamblers go acquainted with the league.

However, it could mean adjacent much for sportsbooks, who've been chiefly dealing with antheral customers since the Supreme Court paved the mode for the legalization of sports gambling connected a state-by-state ground successful 2018.

According to the AGA's August survey, astir a 4th of participants successful sports gambling are women. That evidently leaves important country for growth, considering 44 percent of WNBA fans are female, according to a YouGov.com Sports Index poll.

Sports books are besides straight fueling involvement successful the league done assorted promotional offers. At FanDuel, for instance, customers who stake connected the 'W' received a escaped period of WNBA League Pass to assistance them enactment up to velocity connected Clark & Co.

And present FanDuel is readying to summation its offerings for WNBA fans up of the 2025 play successful anticipation of higher demand.

'As much fans go much acquainted with the WNBA and athletes passim the league, it provides caller opportunities for them to engage,' Corcoran said. 'More radical are watching the WNBA, and customers are looking for betting opportunities successful existent time. We are focused connected gathering the request and offering our customers the astir blase product, with the markets and subordinate props they are looking for.'

And arsenic Corcoran sees it, that maturation is simply a two-way street.

'For sports similar the WNBA, our concern to grow our offering is helping much fans prosecute and contributes to increasing the game,' helium said.