By Rachelo Howard – SCCG Management
The sports betting landscape is rapidly evolving, with women’s sports emerging as a key growth area. This shift isn’t just an option; it’s a strategic necessity for the industry. Brands embracing relevance, community, and inclusivity in their engagement strategies are set to dominate this expanding market. Evidence of this trend includes FanDuel doubling its WNBA handle (2022-2023) and DraftKings seeing a 14x increase in women’s college basketball handle.
Beyond traditional sports, the industry is diversifying its betting options. Platforms are incorporating products like bingo, slots, and social casino games as gateway products to onboard new users. This reflects an understanding that women’s engagement with gambling may not always stem from conventional sports fandom. By blending social gaming with real-money engagement, as seen with partnerships enabling betting on cultural events like reality TV or the Grammys, operators are creating seamless transitions. This holistic approach aims to increase customer lifetime value by cross-promoting various betting products, demonstrating a sophisticated strategy for acquiring and retaining a broader audience.
The Ascendance of Women’s Sports in the Betting Landscape
Women’s sports have definitively moved beyond a niche, becoming a powerful force in the global sports industry. This rise is clearly demonstrated by surging viewership, betting activity, and significant strategic investments.
Growing interest underpins this expansion. In 2025, a remarkable 67% of Americans followed at least one women’s sport, up from 55% in 2022, directly fueling increased betting. The WNBA shows substantial growth, with BetMGM reporting a 108% increase in 2024 season betting activity and FanDuel doubling its WNBA handle between 2022 and 2023. Women’s college basketball has also exploded, with DraftKings seeing a 14x increase in handle. The 2024 NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship game, drawing 18.9 million viewers and peaking at 24.1 million, became ESPN’s most-watched college basketball game ever and the second most-watched women’s sporting event in U.S. history.
Individual athletes like Caitlin Clark are powerful catalysts. Her impact is clear in her games dominating WNBA betting activity, with six of the top eight most-bet games at BetMGM featuring her team, and attracting five times more prop bets than the next player. FanDuel even created a dedicated “Caitlin Clark betting hub.” This “player-driven fandom” creates demand for granular betting options like prop bets, expanding the market and normalizing women’s sports betting.
Industry’s Strategic Pivot
Historically, sports betting focused on men. However, changing demographics and rising interest in women’s sports are forcing operators to rethink how they engage female bettors. This previously overlooked audience is now a critical growth segment.
Marketing efforts are evolving to genuinely reflect this audience, moving beyond superficial “pink buttons.” Examples include FanDuel’s “Women’s Day of Winning” hub and DraftKings’ U.S. Open campaign, which offered a 50% profit boost on live bets to mark the 50th anniversary of equal prize money in tennis. Inclusivity is a core design principle, with platforms simplifying interfaces, softening tone, and improving onboarding for new users. Operators are also fostering communal experiences, recognizing that many female users prefer betting as a social activity. This is seen in DraftKings’ women-focused watch parties and FanDuel’s “FanFuel” coffee trucks at major women’s sporting events. Influencer partnerships are evolving, with platforms collaborating with female sports broadcasters and personalities to create authentic content. Beyond traditional sports betting, platforms are adapting fantasy sports with women-only leagues, tutorials, and social components to reduce intimidation for new participants.
The Role of Investment and Infrastructure
Investment in women’s sports is shifting to a long-term “venture capital mindset,” driven by vision, values, and societal impact, recognizing the sector’s immense growth potential. North American leagues like the WNBA and NWSL are leading this with record-breaking investments, such as Denver’s $110 million NWSL expansion fee in early 2025, more than double the previous fee.
New investment models include multi-club ownership, venture capital funding (e.g., League One Volleyball’s $100 million, Unrivaled $35 million), and angel investment from high-net-worth individuals and celebrities. Crucially, dedicated infrastructure (like Brighton & Hove Albion FC’s women’s specific stadium) is being built to attract talent and create commercial opportunities. Raising the profile of major events, such as the 2025 Rugby Women’s World Cup, is key to cultivating new fan bases. Leagues and teams are also partnering with non-endemic brands from fashion, beauty, and travel to connect with diverse audiences and boost athlete visibility.
This growth creates a clear feedback loop: increased media coverage (projected to reach 20% of total sports coverage by 2025) fuels fan interest, which then attracts significant investment. This investment professionalizes leagues, boosting their appeal, viewership, and engagement. The sports betting industry responds by expanding offerings and marketing, normalizing women’s sports betting as a mainstream activity. This self-reinforcing cycle ensures sustained, long-term market maturation.
While women are a primary focus, it’s notable that 56% of the WNBA’s audience is male, challenging the misconception of a solely female audience. Women’s sports attract a diverse, multicultural audience across age groups. The industry’s inclusive efforts (simplified interfaces, softer tone, communal events) appeal broadly, meaning the normalization of women’s sports betting is inadvertently improving the overall betting experience for a wider, more diverse customer base, regardless of gender.
The Calculated Bettor: Understanding Female Habits and Preferences
Women exhibit distinct betting behaviors that defy traditional gambling stereotypes. Female bettors often adopt a more analytical, risk-averse, and disciplined approach than men, prioritizing long-term profitability over impulsive, high-stakes wagers.
Studies consistently indicate that women tend to “bet smarter than men, at least at a recreational level.” This strategic inclination is reflected in their willingness to “invest time and expense into data analytics” and their ability to “remove emotion from their betting,” often treating it “as an investment.” This contrasts with male bettors, who are typically more frequent consumers of sports media and coverage and thus “more likely to be emotionally involved in the process of betting.”
Evidence of Strategic Bankroll Management, Loss Avoidance, and Long-Term Investment Mindset
Female bettors tend to “start small to test their strategies,” “manage their bankroll effectively,” and “avoid chasing losses.” They are also more likely to “exploit low-risk offers and sign-up bonuses.” A study by bookmaker 888 in New Jersey revealed that their female customers achieved a 19% ROI over a 12-month period, while male customers experienced a 4.6% loss. On average, women tend to lose less per year ($3.5k) compared to men ($5k ). While women who bet tend to do so for a longer duration (21 months of their lifetime compared to 14 for men), men typically spend twice as much time on gambling activities and conduct more frequent sessions. However, a crucial nuance is that younger women (18-24 age group) showed a loss of approximately 43%, which was worse than men of a similar age.
This specific data point indicates that the “calculated picks” and “profitability” observed in the broader female demographic might be primarily driven by older, more experienced female bettors. Conversely, younger women might be engaging in higher-risk behaviors, be less disciplined in bankroll management, or be more susceptible to the normalization of online gambling and its associated marketing without fully developing strategic approaches.
Exploiting “Softer” Lines: A Competitive Edge
The presence of “softer” lines in women’s sports betting represents a significant opportunity for knowledgeable bettors. Understanding the nature of these lines and the factors contributing to their existence is crucial for gaining a competitive edge.
Defining “Soft Lines” and Their Inherent Value
“Soft lines” refer to odds or lines that are set at values “less accurate than they should be,” thereby offering a statistical advantage to the bettor. They are often described as “mispriced odds” or “hidden gems” because they deviate significantly from the true probability of an outcome, providing more favorable odds than usual. In contrast, “sharp lines” are highly efficient odds that have been refined by sophisticated algorithms and the collective action of professional bettors. Exploiting soft lines allows “smart bettors” to effectively shift the odds in their favor.
Root Causes of Market Inefficiencies in Women’s Sports
“Soft” betting lines in women’s sports stem from market immaturity, characterized by limited data and less “sharp” bookmaker action. This creates an information advantage for knowledgeable bettors who conduct thorough research, especially given the slower adjustment to news. This “arbitrage-like” opportunity is temporary, as market maturation and increased liquidity will reduce these inefficiencies.
Several factors contribute to these soft lines: limited data in less popular or niche markets, public betting bias that inflates odds, bookmaker errors and slow reaction to news (especially in WNBA), softer opening lines before professional influence, a lack of significant investment from major sportsbooks to “solve” these markets, and an outsized reliance on recent player performance (e.g., hot streaks) in setting WNBA prop lines.
Value Betting as a Core Strategy
Value betting identifies mispriced odds where the actual probability of an outcome is higher than the bookmaker’s implied probability, offering a mathematical edge and consistent long-term profitability. This strategy, which doesn’t require extensive sports knowledge, allows bettors to grow a small bankroll, with proper bankroll management (e.g., Kelly Criterion) crucial for risk mitigation. However, consistently profitable bettors may face sportsbook restrictions.
A paradox exists: the success of calculated, value-oriented betting (common among women, who show higher ROI) often leads to sportsbook limitations. This highlights a constant challenge between sharp bettors and sportsbooks. Operators must balance attracting profitable bettors with managing professional player risk, while serious bettors need to use multiple sportsbooks and diversify strategies to sustain their edge.
Conclusion & Strategic Outlook
Women’s sports betting is a rapidly growing segment, driven by increased fan interest, media coverage, and investment. Female bettors show a distinct, more calculated and profitable approach, favoring data analysis and disciplined bankroll management. The rise of player props, in-play, and futures bets signals a maturing market, and “softer” lines in niche areas offer a strategic advantage for analytical bettors.
For the industry, authentic engagement, inclusive design, and tailored betting formats are crucial. Operators must prioritize community-driven experiences and continued investment in women’s sports infrastructure and professionalization to fuel growth. Understanding the female audience, including generational differences, is essential for effective strategies. Partnerships with female media personalities are also key to normalizing and expanding market appeal.
The women’s sports betting market is set for continued growth and sophistication. As lines harden with market maturity, the focus will shift to optimizing algorithms and data analytics. Both operators and bettors must innovate and adapt, prioritizing relevance, community, and inclusivity to stay competitive.
