The presence of Caitlin Clark increased betting on the WNBA by over six times its year-over-year mark.
Wagers on WNBA's opening night — which featured Clark's Indiana Fever debut — were up 516% at Caesars, which amounts to a more than six-times rise compared to opening day one year ago.
Clark's presence buoyed WNBA betting as a whole, but her particular props were actually the most popular wagers of the day, according to BetMGM. At that sportsbook, bets on her to score more than 20.5 points were the most popular basketball prop of the day. That was more than any individual player was bet on for Pacers vs. Knicks or Timberwolves vs. Nuggets, which featured the largest media market in the country and the defending NBA champions in pivotal Game 5 playoff matchups.
Fever vs. Sun garnered over eight times as many wagers on it relative to the Fever's first game in 2023, according to BetMGM. It ended up the most wagered on WNBA in BetMGM's history, which dates back to 2018.
Clark's WNBA debut also received more viewers than the NHL playoffs. The game on ESPN2 garnered an average of 2.12 million viewers. Meanwhile, Bruins vs. Panthers on ESPN's main channel received 1.99 million viewers on average. It was the most watched WNBA game since recorded data has been accumulated.
Pacers vs. Knicks, in comparison, averaged about 4.88 million viewers, a little more than double the WNBA matchup.
