116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Home / Sports / Iowa Hawkeyes Sports / Iowa Basketball
Iowa women’s basketball a hit at sportsbooks, too
Lots of gamblers in Las Vegas were cheering for Hawkeyes during NCAA championship game on Sunday
King Jemison - correspondent
Apr. 9, 2024 2:29 pm
LAS VEGAS — Caitlin Clark pulled up steps from the logo and drilled the 3-pointer to give Iowa an 18-7 lead in Sunday’s national championship game.
The crowd erupted, high-fiving and fist-pumping. But this wasn’t Carver-Hawkeye Arena or even Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
This was Circa Sportsbook.
As Clark fuels a women’s basketball explosion in the United States, the gambling industry is feeling the shock waves. Circa bettors wagered five times more on the women’s national semifinals than they did a season ago, according to Vice President of Operations Mike Palm. The 2024 national championship was the most bet women’s sporting event in Circa history.
“I didn’t think the numbers were even possible,” Palm said of the elevated interest in women’s basketball.
There had been a “slow, steady increase” in betting on women’s basketball over the past few seasons, Palm said. Then came Clark Mania. Circa’s handle (total amount wagered) for Iowa’s NCAA tournament games grew 400 percent from their run a season ago, according to Palm.
It wasn’t just Circa. ESPN reported multiple major sportsbooks also said it was their most-bet women’s sporting event ever.
The near-capacity crowd watching Sunday’s championship at Circa reflected the Clark craze. The atmosphere was jubilant as Iowa raced to a double-digit first-quarter lead. It was sullen as South Carolina took over the game in the second half.
“People bet with their hearts, what they wanted to happen,” said Andrew Hipps, one of the few Circa crowd members conspicuously cheering for the Gamecock (he bet on them as well). “They don’t look at it rationally. South Carolina’s clearly been the best team.”
As confetti rained on Dawn Staley’s undefeated Gamecocks, a trickle of bettors lined up to collect their winnings — a far cry from the surge that would have likely rushed the tellers had Iowa prevailed.
Some of those disappointed Iowa bettors had never wagered on women’s sports before the Final Four. Tamara F. (who declined to give her last name) had barely even watched any women’s basketball before this weekend. She decided to bet on Sunday’s title game for the same reason millions tuned into ABC.
“I guess because of Caitlin Clark,” Tamara said. “It being her senior year, I thought she would want to win.”
Clark was the draw, but Circa bettors just now finding their way to women’s basketball liked what they saw from the sport. Pete Tabor had mostly only watched men’s basketball before this season. But during his trip to Vegas over Final Four weekend, it was the women’s game that caught his eye.
“The pace of the game is so different,” Tabor said. “It was super entertaining.”
Steven Crockom, a Vegas resident watching from Circa, has been a fan of women’s basketball for a while but had never bet on it before Sunday.
“The money’s here on the women’s side to me,” Crockom said.
He took Iowa.
Multiple bettors said they were more interested in women’s basketball because they could bet on it.
“Now that we’ve actually watched it, there’s a lot of action in women’s sports,” said Dustin Olson, who traveled from Minnesota to watch the national championship in Vegas.
Even though most of the Circa crowd seemed to be on Iowa, the line kept ticking toward South Carolina before tipoff. It eventually closed at Gamecocks -7.5. Palm said most of the “sharps” were backing Staley’s undefeated squad.
It was perhaps a rude introduction to betting on women’s sports for the many first-timers.
“(The Gamecocks) were just too big,” said Matt Varner, who bet Iowa throughout the tournament. “Anytime they throw up a shot, you knew they were going to get the rebound.”
Betting was an entry point to women’s basketball for Varner and other sports gamblers. Clark was an entry point to millions more who latched onto her college career and elevated her to unprecedented stardom.
As she makes her way to the WNBA’s Indiana Fever — who hold the first pick in next Monday’s Draft — perhaps both groups will follow.
King Jemison is a graduate student at Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism.