This WNBA season has been full of broken records and massive growth. In the same year that A'ja Wilson became the first WNBA player to score 1,000 points in a single season, the league set attendance and viewership records. Betting on the WNBA also saw a record increase this season based on data from sportsbooks and Action Network app users.
“BetMGM experienced historic interest in the WNBA during the 2024 regular season with a 108% increase in betting year-over-year," Sports Trader Hannah Luther said in a release touting the increase in betting volume.
A similar increase was seen by Action Network users who tracked their picks in the app throughout the season. The number of users who tracked a pick increased 14% versus last season. The number of WNBA regular season picks tracked increased a staggering 70% compared to the 2023 season.
That increase didn't just happen out of nowhere. In 2023, betting and viewership were up substantially thanks to the then-budding rivalry between the Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty.
But there was something different about the WNBA this season. Michael Ranftle, also a trader at BetMGM, noted in July that the sportsbook took more bets on the WNBA during the first half of the season than they had in all of 2023. The difference for bettors seemed to be two-fold: Caitlin Clark and player props.
The Caitlin Clark Effect
Few players in sports entered the pros with the hype that Clark had and still managed to make an immediate impact. Bettors couldn't wait to get money down on the Indiana Fever in the rookie's first professional game.
Leading up to Clark's debut, our Avery Yang reported that the matchup had garnered eight times as many wagers compared to the Fever's 2023 season debut:
And Clark-related props are among the most popular bets in all of sports on Tuesday — namely, on her to do well in her WNBA debut.
Clark to record over 20.5 points is the most bet player prop in basketball today — beating out all player props from the defending NBA champions and the largest media market in New York City with the Knicks, according to BetMGM.
Clark's popularity is part of why the Fever went from second-to-last in average attendance (4,066) in 2023 to first in the W by a wide margin (17,035) this season. People bought in heavily on Fever futures at BetMGM, which have become a huge liability for the sportsbook if the young team wins it all this season. The Fever account for 46.8% of tickets and 61.7% of the handle, ahead of the reigning champion Las Vegas Aces and title favorite New York Liberty.
"Consistent interest in Clark props and Fever moneylines, and a significant number of bets on the Fever outright make Clark’s influence on the league undeniable, Luther said of the star rookie."
Player Props Powering the Surge
Player props have become increasingly popular in all sports, partly because inexperienced bettors can be more comfortable projecting a player's performance than the outcome of an event. The wider availability of player props for the 2024 WNBA regular season catalyzed the betting growth in the league.
Picks in the Action Network app on on player props increased 483% compared to the 2023 season and the amount of people who placed a pick on a player prop increased nearly 200% year-over-year. Player Prop picks accounted for 39% of WNBA regular season picks, up from 11% last season.
Clark's popularity had a hand in this as well. At BetMGM, Clark's player props were the most bet of any player in the league and she garnered five times as many bets as fellow rookie Angel Reese, the second-most bet W player at the sportsbook.
With the playoffs set to begin Sunday and interest at an all-time high, the league should continue to see bets rolling in at record rates.
