The explosion of betting on WNBA games during the first week of this just-commenced season was predictable. With top draft pick Caitlin Clark moving two states east to make her pro debut with the Indiana Fever, there were nearly 24 times the amount of wagers (to go with 37.5x handle) placed on preseason WNBA games at DraftKings heading into the May 14 launch of the regular season.
And what a launch it was. Going up against both the NBA and NHL playoffs, Clark's ESPN2-televised regular season debut against the Connecticut Sun was the most-watched WNBA game since 2001, when the Los Angeles Sparks and Houston Comets faced off on Memorial Day on NBC. While the Fever-Sun game didn't approach the viewership levels of the NBA playoffs, it topped the ratings for both NHL postseason games — each of which aired on ESPN's main channel.
Naturally, this piqued interest was a boon for betting apps. The WNBA's opening night bet count was up 516% year over year at Caesars, where handle surged 84%. The sportsbook took more bets on the Fever-Sun game'than on any game from the 2023 WNBA season – including six times the amount of bets placed on the decisive Game 4 of the WNBA Finals between the Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty.
As for prop bets specific to Clark, they attracted more handle at Caesars than any of her games at Iowa or for any WNBA prop ever.
“With the huge influx of talent in this year’s WNBA Draft adding to an already loaded wealth of veteran players, this year's WNBA handle will eclipse anything we have seen before,” Caesars Vice President of Trading Craig Mucklow said in a statement provided to Sports Handle. “We expect records to be broken on a weekly basis and even more so when the NBA Finals are over and the women's game gets additional primetime TV spots.”
Just a one-night wonder?
A similar wagering scenario played out at FanDuel, which last week became the Fever's official sportsbook partner.
Tuesday's opening night saw a 230% increase in WNBA bet count over opening night of the 2023 season, while the amount of active bettors was up 194%. Of those placing wagers on the league, the sportsbook reported that over half were first-time WNBA bettors.
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So was the Clark effect just a one-night wonder? Maybe not. DraftKings told Sports Handle that through the first week of the WNBA season, a span in which the Fever went 0-4 with a pair of losses apiece to two of the league's best teams (the Sun and Liberty), WNBA handle was up 150% and that the bet count rose 800% year over year.
The Fever fervor extended into the fantasy realm, where PrizePicks reported that Clark was chosen in more DFS lineups throughout the week than the next four most popular athletes combined – male or female.
Stats compare favorably to Curry, Ionescu
Clark's play has been uneven through her first four games. She's eclipsed 20 points twice, but had 10 and eight turnovers in those contests, respectively. Heading into a Wednesday night date with Seattle, Clark is averaging 17 points, 5.5 assists, and four rebounds per game.
There is cause for optimism, however. During the fourth quarter of an 88-84 loss at home to the Sun, Clark pulled up in stride from 33 feet and buried a 3-pointer, immediately calling to mind perhaps her closest comp: Steph Curry.
In his rookie year with the Golden State Warriors, Curry averaged 17 points, six assists, and 4.5 rebounds. It took him until his fourth NBA season to eclipse the 20 point per game mark.'
In the women's game, Liberty point guard Sabrina Ionescu registers as the most Clark-like among current players. A No. 1 draft pick herself, the former University of Oregon star missed all but three games of her rookie campaign and registered averages of 11.7 points, six assists, and five rebounds on 38% shooting from the field in her first full year. Those benchmarks rose to 17.4 points, seven rebounds, and six assists on 41% shooting (Clark's current percentage) in her second full season.
Either of these players' trajectories seem attainable for Clark, who's already emerged as Indiana's leading scorer and, in turn, is the focal point of any opposing defense.
WNBA “a lot more than Caitlin”
While the first week of the season is plenty encouraging, the jury's still out on how sustainable increased viewer and sports bettor interest in Clark and the WNBA will prove to be.
The second game of Tuesday night's ESPN2 doubleheader, a matchup between the defending champion Aces the Phoenix Mercury, drew just 464,000 viewers despite, as Sportico put it, “a huge lead-in” from the Fever-Sun game. Taking Clark's tilt out of the equation, that represented a 47% year-over-year drop from a comparable 2023 opener between the Sparks and Mercury, which marked Brittney Griner's first game back after her season-long detainment in Russia.
As for Clark, the ever-insightful Lindsay Gibbs wrote on a recent Power Plays Substack, “The hope is that soon, Clark's rough start will be just a footnote. … The hope is that her fans learn about other players in the WNBA, that they keep tuning in and buying tickets even if the Fever only win seven games this season.'
“I don't know how good she will be in the WNBA pantheon – it's clear she needs to gain a lot of strength – but I do know that she will have some spectacular moments on the court in her future, and she will also have many, many more humbling ones. She has to give herself grace and patience. Fans and media need to give her grace and patience. And we need to give the new fans she's bringing in some grace and patience, even if we don't feel like it's being reciprocated.
“The WNBA is a lot more than Caitlin Clark. You know that, I know that, Clark knows that. A lot of people are just now figuring that out; let's hope they take the bumps in stride, and along the way, develop the type of respect for women's sports that's steadfast through turbulence.”