During their debut seasons, Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese attracted greater focus on the WNBA, leading to a notable increase in betting activity on the league.
A recent study from the Journal of Gambling Business and Economics validates that the star appeal of Clark and Reese attracted more bettors to the WNBA last season, even with both players on struggling teams. Clark, a player for the Indiana Fever, and Reese from the Chicago Sky, have a shared background. During his college years, Clark's Iowa squad fell to LSU and Reese in the 2023 championship match before redeeming that loss in the Elite Eight of the 2024 tournament.
That competition continued in the WNBA, with Fever/Sky matchups ranking as some of the league's most viewed and most bet on during the last season. Whenever the two stars weren't competing against one another, they continued to produce greater engagement in their individual games. In the previous season, the betting volume on Indiana Fever games was twice that of other WNBA games without Clark, as reported by the Journal of Gambling Business and Economics.
The rise wasn’t as substantial for Reese and the Chicago Sky, but the team’s games still saw a noteworthy increase in handle compared to the WNBA average.
Clark and Reese Elevating the WNBA, Yet Challenges Persist
In addition to betting, Clark and Reese have created unprecedented excitement surrounding the WNBA, aiding the financially struggling league in gaining greater mainstream visibility.
The arrival of the two stars last year heightened interest, leading to increased television ratings and a surge in betting. Additional off-the-court impacts involve a surge in enthusiasm for WNBA cards, primarily driven by the sky-high prices of certain Clark cards.
Nonetheless, the WNBA encounters challenges, such as its timetable. The league's season begins in May and continues until October. The initial part of the schedule is dominated by the NBA playoffs, and by the time August arrives, many sports fans and bettors shift their focus to college football and the NFL.
The Journal of Gambling Business and Economics analysis revealed that when college football, NFL, and WNBA games took place, the betting volume for the women's basketball league dropped. This contributes to the ongoing debate that leagues like the WNBA must be tactical with their scheduling to prevent direct competition with entities like the NFL and NBA.
Another Engaging WNBA Betting Trend
The Journal of Gambling Business and Economics pointed out an intriguing occurrence concerning Clark and Reese. Last year, gamblers who placed bets on Fever games had about the same chance of wagering on Clark’s team as they did of betting against it.
On the other hand, they were considerably more inclined to wager on Reese’s Sky, although this might have stemmed from the team frequently being a notable underdog — often a substantial one at that. In the 2024 season, the Sky were favored in only eight matches, occurring just once in their last 11 contests.
Betting on the Sky to perform better than last year proved to be a losing proposition since the team did not succeed in 24 out of 40 matches.