{"id":3671,"date":"2024-03-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-19T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dwjqp1.com\/march-madness-ncaa-tournament-iowa-caitlin-clark-2bc2519fcdb0bb758a6ff01233d5c6c2\/"},"modified":"2024-03-19T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-03-19T00:00:00","slug":"march-madness-ncaa-tournament-iowa-caitlin-clark-2bc2519fcdb0bb758a6ff01233d5c6c2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dwjqp1.com\/march-madness-ncaa-tournament-iowa-caitlin-clark-2bc2519fcdb0bb758a6ff01233d5c6c2\/","title":{"rendered":"Caitlin Clark behind increased betting interest in women's college basketball"},"content":{"rendered":"
LAS VEGAS (AP) \u2014 Caitlin Clark\u2019s audacious logo 3-pointers<\/a> and record-breaking accomplishments have driven sports fans who previously wouldn\u2019t walk across the street to watch women\u2019s basketball to set their DVRs for Iowa games.<\/p>\n Bettors have taken an interest, too, using some of their discretionary money on Clark and the Hawkeyes, the top seed in the Albany Regional 2 of the NCAA Tournament. Iowa plays Holy Cross or UT Martin in the first round Saturday.<\/p>\n Caesars Sportsbook reported the number of bets on women\u2019s college basketball games this season compared to a year ago was 190% higher with 153% more money wagered.<\/p>\n \u201cWe saw the momentum slowly build toward the end of the regular season last year and then into the tournament,\u201d said Grant Tucker, who heads up college basketball trading for Caesars. \u201cObviously, Iowa had that great run all the way to the final. So as the tournament went along, the betting increased. Her superstardom grew.<\/p>\n \u201cIt all tied in perfectly when you think of (name, image and likeness) and all the stuff going on. We really have never seen a college athlete like this, especially in the women\u2019s game in any sport.\u201d<\/p>\n Caesars and BetMGM plan to offer proposition bets around Clark, and her popularity has created a spillover effect for other women\u2019s college basketball teams. Tucker said Caesars has gone from posting four or five women\u2019s games on any given day to 12 to 15.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n She also has affected futures bets, with Iowa going from 12-1 at Caesars to win the national championship to 6-1 because of the money from casual gamblers. The pros haven\u2019t jumped in, preferring to stick with South Carolina, which is a minus-135 favorite.<\/p>\n \u201cI think what\u2019s great about Caitlin Clark is it\u2019s changed a little bit the dynamics of college basketball,\u201d said Derek Stevens, owner of several downtown Las Vegas casinos, including Circa. \u201cThe interest in women\u2019s college basketball has definitely taken a big upturn in the last two seasons, and Iowa and Caitlin Clark is the reason. I think it\u2019s something that\u2019s fun. People are liking it. We\u2019re showing it inside Circa Las Vegas, so it\u2019s pretty awesome to see how this has developed.\u201d<\/p>\n Sheldon Jacobson, who operates the site BracketOdds, said brackets remain enormously more popular for the men\u2019s tournament, at a 60-to-1 ratio, but Clark has created more interest for the women.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you have Caitlin Clark playing, the longer the Iowa Hawkeyes survive, the more interest there will be,\u201d Jacobson said. \u201cShe\u2019s become a rock star among the women\u2019s basketball players, and that\u2019s great for the game. It\u2019s great for the sport, and I hope it continues. Certainly, she\u2019ll be greatly missed when she finishes her career in just a few weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n Which leaves women\u2019s college basketball at a little bit of a crossroads.<\/p>\n Clark will be a difficult act to follow, though USC freshman JuJu Watkins<\/a> is showing she might have the game to do just that.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s more than just play, it\u2019s also personality,\u201d Jacobson said. \u201cIt\u2019s really the whole gestalt. (Clark) really brings something special to the game. I intentionally watched some of the games on TV when she was playing just because she was so interesting to watch. She brings something special to the game, and that\u2019s great for the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n Tucker said he expects some regression in interest when Clark heads to the WNBA after this season, but her departure won\u2019t completely stall the momentum for women\u2019s college basketball.<\/p>\n \u201cHer stardom is very unique,\u201d Tucker said. \u201cNIL is here to stay. There are more stars to come<\/a>, but I don\u2019t know if anybody can really be at the level of Caitlin Clark. I wouldn\u2019t say it would go down to how it was four or five years ago, but I don\u2019t know if this is really sustainable long term.\u201d<\/p>\n Tucker said Creighton and McNeese State have taken some notable action on futures bets for the men\u2019s NCAA Tournament.<\/p>\n As for notable line moves, he said Drake has gone from a pick \u2018em with Washington State to a 1 1\/2-point favorite, BYU has risen two points to a 10-point favorite over Duquesne and Tennessee has gone from 17 1\/2 to 21 points over Saint Peter\u2019s.<\/p>\n AP March Madness bracket: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/ncaa-womens-bracket\/<\/a> and coverage: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/march-madness<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" LAS VEGAS (AP) \u2014 Caitlin Clark\u2019s audacious logo 3-pointers and record-breaking accomplishments have driven sports fans who previously wouldn\u2019t walk across the street to watch women\u2019s basketball to set their DVRs for Iowa games. Bettors have taken an interest, too, using some of their discretionary money on Clark and the Hawkeyes, the top seed in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":3671,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[432,223,53,2008,592,591,248,249,1965,251],"yoast_head":"\nNOTABLE MEN\u2019S BETTING<\/h2>\n
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