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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowCaitlin Clark’s much-anticipated WNBA debut produced record betting, far more than the amount of money wagered on last year’s clinching game for the WNBA championship.
Betting was six times higher at Caesars Sportsbook on the Indiana Fever’s 92-71 road loss to the Connecticut Sun on Tuesday night than on Game 4 of the Las Vegas Aces’ 70-69 victory over the New York Liberty last season. The Aces won the series 3-1 to capture their second straight WNBA championship.
Clark’s first regular-season game for the Fever was the most-bet game at Caesars over any WNBA game last season.
Wagering on the game helped propel betting on the league overall, with the number of tickets up 516% at Caesars over last year’s opening night and the amount of money up 84%.
“With the huge influx of talent in this year’s WNBA draft adding to an already loaded wealth of veteran players, this year’s WNBA handle will eclipse anything we have seen before,” said Craig Mucklow, Caesars vice president of trading. “We expect records to be broken on a weekly basis and even more so when the NBA Finals are over and the women’s game gets additional prime-time TV spots.”
The Fever-Sun game also was the most-bet WNBA game ever at BetMGM Sportsbook, although specific numbers weren’t immediately available.
Clark’s over/under of 20.5 points was the most-bet proposition wager at that sportsbook in the WNBA and NBA. She scored 20 points, overcoming a slow start that included 10 turnovers for the game.
Clark was the second-most popular selection among men and women over the past week on the fantasy site PrizePicks. Only the Minnesota Timberwolves’ Anthony Edwards was ahead of Clark, putting her ahead of such players as Nikola Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jayson Tatum.
The number of picks on the site for all WNBA games was 185% higher than last year’s opening night.
Clark has been expected to lift the WNBA to new heights, similar to what she did over the past two years in leading the University of Iowa to the NCAA championship game in back-to-back seasons. Her style was a big part of the increased interest in women’s basketball, with Clark willing to regularly shoot from the midcourt logo as she became the NCAA’s Division I all-time scoring leader in her four years with the Hawkeyes.
The Fever selected her with the No. 1 overall pick this year, but Indiana remains in rebuilding mode even with Clark and reigning WNBA Rookie of the Year Aliyah Boston. The Sun played in the WNBA Finals just two seasons ago, losing in four games to the Aces. They made the semifinals last season before losing in four games to the Liberty.
“Disappointed and nobody likes to lose, that’s how it is,” Clark said after the loss to the Sun. “Can’t beat yourself up too much about one game.”
Sportsbooks say they expect increased betting on numerous women’s sports.
They expect strong wagering on this year’s Olympics, where the U.S women’s basketball team has won seven of the last eight gold medals, and where its women’s soccer team has already shown the ability to attract strong betting interest as well.
“There’s a great opportunity for it right now, so why not throw gasoline on the fire?” asked Meghan Chayka, cofounder of the hockey analytics firm Stathletes. “Not just March Madness; it’s all-calendar. It’s an obvious way to diversify your fan base.”
Johnny Avello, director of sports operations for DraftKings, said, “There is more star power in women’s basketball than ever before.”
“Ticket prices, media attention and even preseason betting are all up, as this new era of stars gets ready to enter the league,” he said. “The WNBA has been steadily growing for the last couple of years, and we are very excited for what should be an excellent season.”
DraftKings took 3 1/2 times more bets on this year’s women’s college basketball tournament than in the year before, and nearly four times as much total money was wagered on the games. At BetMGM, the amount of money bet on WNBA futures, predicting things like the eventual champion or most valuable player, is up 175% this year.
Donna Orender, former president of the WNBA and a former college All-American and all-star pro basketball player, said the league’s success, and that of women’s sports in general, have been a long time coming, and betting is one validation of that success.
“That money represents engagement,” she said. ”If people are betting, they are engaging. That is healthy for a sports league.”
She was one of numerous panelists at the recent SBC Summit North America conference who predicted 2024 will be a record-breaking year for women’s sports in many aspects, including popularity, TV viewership and betting activity.
“People are so interested in (Clark), and we’ve leaned into that,” said Syd Harris, director of brand and content for the online gambling company Betway. “We know people are watching and betting on women’s sports. If someone comes in amid the excitement of March Madness, how do you continue that?”
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Im sure its fair to be optimistic but Caitlin is slowly turning out to be just an overhyped job and its going to be bad for the league as a whole. Ive always said the league made a huge mistake in just focusing on Caitlin and not several other good players. The league put all their eggs in one basket and to be honest its probably overwhelming for Caitlin to leave up to the hype