Here's Bettin' on You Kid

June 19, 2000

Say what you want about women's basketball, but by at least one measure it has gained a foothold in a formerly male-dominated domain: Both college and WNBA games are now fixtures at several Las Vegas sports books. Insiders estimate that some $10 million was wagered in Vegas on the 2000 NCAA women's tournament, including $4 million on the final, the most heavily bet-on event in women's sports history. John Harper, odds-maker at Las Vegas Sports Consultants, says more than half of the 45 casinos for which his company sets betting lines now take bets on women's Final Four games. Showing slow but steady growth, the four-year-old WNBA appears in 15% of Nevada sports books—slightly more than Arena football. "WNBA bets have increased tenfold since 1997," says Mirage sports book operator Robert Walker. While Walker reports that men dominate WNBA betting, Harper has found that women like to wager on their sisters: "We see a lot of young females who don't bet on anything else betting on women's basketball games."