Sports betting is not only exploding, but also penetrating previously unknown territory.
Thirty-eight states have legalized sports wagering, and in 29, the bets can be made remotely. The national handle was more than $10 billion a month from September through March. As a consequence, sports and sports betting have become much more important to the gaming industry than ever before.
For example, when Taylor Swift took over the narrative for the National Football League, she was also the big story in the sports-wagering narrative. The Kansas City Chiefs were the primary, but not exclusive, benefactor. Additionally, Swift has an impact on the number of people going to casinos in cities where she’s attending a game. The Swift factor hit its peak in February with the Super Bowl. She was as much a part of the game as the players on the field. Las Vegas was abuzz with her name and casinos were filled with her fans.
However, before the ink was dry on the Super Bowl reporting, a new star had risen, this time over the National Collegiate Basketball Championship. Iowa Hawkeye point guard Caitlin Clark sat atop March Madness like a true superstar, a Magic, Michael, or Kobe. By the time the tournament began, Clark was the all-time leading scorer in college basketball, men’s or women’s. In nearly every game, Clark hit some new record. Her presence alone filled the seats and captured the television cameras. Probably no woman in sports has ever attracted as much attention or generated as much hype.
And March Madness lived up to the hype; besides Caitlin, other stories excited the fans and enticed the bettors. The national collegiate basketball tournament had the usual upsets and favorites. However, in the end, the favorites held the day. For the women, South Carolina was unbeaten and ranked number one going into the final game. The Gamecocks defeated the powerful Iowa team with Caitlin Clark 87 to 75. On the men’s side, a dominant UConn repeated as national champion, beating Purdue 75-60. All four teams were ranked number one in their regions.
It will be May before we see the complete betting numbers, but early estimates suggest record wagering on both the men and women. Betting on the women was one of the major storylines, as the women grabbed more than their share of headlines, wagering and eyeballs. In the Final Four and championship games, the women attracted more viewers and more bettors than the men. The change was driven primarily by Caitlin Clark. She was everywhere and videos of her shots were impossible to avoid. Iowa made it to the championship game, which means the intense focus lasted through the entire tournament.
In 2024, Caitlin Clark was to women’s basketball what Taylor Swift was to professional football, a lightning rod. Clark has been on the national radar since she was in high school. At Iowa, she rose to a new level and by her senior year, Clark owned the spotlight and she handled the attention with grace and ease. She is expected to bring the same star power to the Women’s National Basketball Association. The WNBA draft is today, in fact, and Clark is expected to go to the Indiana Fever as number-one pick. Indiana will get a great player, but it will get much more if Clark continues to excel. She will fill arenas whenever and wherever she plays. She will sell team memorabilia. She will bring mainstream media and big-name advertisers to the league. The expectations are high, but some past models suggest it is possible.
Clark appears to be on the threshold of bringing the same kind of star power and attention to women’s basketball that Michael Jordan brought to the NBA and Tiger Woods brought to golf. Both raised their sports dramatically; she has that potential. Clark has another sporting event to elevate, the Olympics. She is expected to play for the American team in Paris; that team is likely to be as exciting as the 1992 Dream Team. And while Clark is doing all of that, she is also bringing more women into sports to play, to watch, and to bet. Sometimes it takes a star and now women’s sports has one, and so does sports betting.
