Women’s sports are finally getting their time in the limelight. As legendary female athletes like Chicago forward Angel Reese and Olympic star Simone Biles wow crowds with their prowess, new and veteran sports bettors are noticing. Top sportsbooks like Betway have noted a growing demand for betting lines on women’s leagues and sports, including the WNBA and NCAA. In this post, we look at what drives this demand and how sportsbooks can respond to it.
An increase in viewership translates to increase in betting
This year, the women’s NCAA championship title game drew more viewers than the men’s for the first time. The Iowa vs. South Carolina match attracted an audience of 24 million, an unprecedented and record-breaking viewership for the league. Why? A month earlier, Iowa Hawkeyes superstar Caitlyn Clark sank a pair of free throws during the last home game of the season with just 0.3 seconds left on the clock. Her masterpiece performance broke the all-time college scoring record and stole the world’s attention. All of a sudden, women’s sports were the thing to watch.
The first month of the 2024 WNBA season drew the highest attendance for the league in over 25 years. The fans who turned up to watch this year were three times those who did last year.
But this surge wasn’t just being felt on the court. According to data from leading US sportsbook FanDuel, the WNBA’s opening night brought in a significant influx of bets, all on women’s sports. Other top brands like Betway experienced increased Betway app download Tanzania and other locations as new and old fans scrambled to participate in the drama and excitement of women’s sports.
More than basketball
But lest you imagine that the surge was limited to basketball, other women’s sports have also received more fan and better attention. In 2023, the Women’s World Cup brought in Australia’s third-largest volume of bets for several betting providers, behind only the EPL and Men’s World Cup.
Viewership went up at the Olympics with women’s athletes and events finally equaling the men’s. About 13 million people in the US tuned in to see Biles lead Team USA to gold, and the rugby team’s third-place win went viral. In sports betting, 24 percent of all wagers placed during the Olympics for one sportsbook were on women’s sports. 79 percent of gymnastic and 60 percent of Olympic soccer bets were also placed on women’s events.
Not just women bettors
And it’s not just women who are betting on other women. The increased interest in women’s sports is attracting both sides of the fanbase, with male bettors discovering the drama, intrigue, rivalries, and storylines of women’s sports. According to a recent survey, 9 in every 10 male and female bettors wish to watch the same amount or more women’s matches next year.
Wrapping up: Opportunities for sportsbooks in women’s sports
So, how can sportsbooks respond to this growing interest in women’s sports betting? Sports bettors are fans who naturally want to engage with and participate in their favorite sports. So, if fans are showing a growing interest in women’s sports, sportsbooks like Betway must respond by offering new betting lines, stats, odds, and coverage of women’s events. This means intentionally making women’s sports betting as visible and enjoyable as betting on men’s sports.