Iowans bet a record $2.8B on sports in 2024. Caitlin Clark may have driven 14% increase.

Posted by author January 29, 2025 Sports

Iowans bet a record .8B on sports in 2024. Caitlin Clark may have driven 14% increase.

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Iowa saw another record year for sports betting in 2024, with many indicators pointing to basketball star Caitlin Clark as the reason why.

Nearly all figures in Iowa’s sports betting market increased in 2024 compared to 2023.

How much did Iowans spend on sports betting in 2024?

Iowans wagered more than $2.8 billion on sports in 2024, up 14% compared to 2023, according to the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission.

Revenue on the sports wagering handle was up 8% in 2024 over 2023, said Tina Eick, an administrator at the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission.

Did ‘Caitlin Clark effect’ drive increase in Iowa sports betting?

Clark’s rise as a dominant force in women’s basketball over the past year contributed greatly to the rise in sports betting in the state, according to Covers.com, which provides analysis, insight and statistics for sports betters. In 2024, Clark finished her collegiate career at Iowa with a National Championship appearance, took the Indiana Fever to the playoffs and won WNBA Rookie of the Year.

From November 2023, when Clark started her senior season at Iowa, to September 2024, when the Fever was eliminated from the WNBA playoffs, Iowa’s monthly sports wagering handles increased by an average of 18%. While collegiate and professional football and men’s basketball games took place during most of this time, Covers.com said that even during the summer months — when the NFL season had ended and the NBA was wrapping up — Iowans placed more wagers on sports in 2024 than they did in 2023.

“Despite leaving the Hawkeyes for the WNBA, Iowans remained avid supporters of Caitlin Clark, driving a significant increase in sports betting activity during the WNBA season,” Covers.com wrote. “[Year-over-year] revenue growth rates surged from 18.2% to 26.9% between May and August.

Americans bet an estimated $150 billion on sports in 2024 — a 24% from 2023 — resulting in more than $14.2 billion in operator revenue, according to the American Gaming Association.

Caitlin Clark’s impact on the rise of betting on women’s basketball

Much has been talked about the Cailtin Clark effect, but there might not be a better example of this than when it comes to sports betting for women’s basketball.

BetMGM reported a 108% increase in WNBA betting for 2024, while Penn Entertainment, the makers of ESPN BET, reported a more than 150% increase in WNBA handle year over year.

During the WNBA’s regular season, 20% of all ESPN BET’s wagers were for games featuring Clark’s team, and 12% of all money-line and spread bets for the whole season were on Indiana. BetMGM reported that six of its eight most-bet WNBA games this season involved the Fever.

The 2024 regular season was the most watched WNBA season on ESPN, and the Fever’s opening postseason game against the Connecticut Sun was the most-viewed WNBA playoff game ever on ESPN platforms.

When did sports betting become legal in Iowa?

Following a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision that allowed every state to legalize sports betting, Iowa quickly welcomed the industry.

The Legislature passed a bill in 2019 that let casinos offer wagering on games. The bill also allowed them to contract with companies like FanDuel and DraftKings to offer online betting.

In 2023 a scandal developed when 26 college athletes in Iowa were charged with underage gambling or identity theft, based on evidence they used accounts registered to their parents and friends. The Iowa Department of Criminal Investigations has been criticized for its use of software provided by GeoComply to track the location of bets without a warrant.

Cooper Worth is a service/trending reporter for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at cworth@gannett.com or follow him on X @CooperAWorth.