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The WNBA has seen a massive upsurge in popularity recently. The growth of the women’s college game has seen stars moving on to the pros, which has been a big boost for the league and sport as a whole.
Will this continue? It will as new stars emerge in college and people get used to seeing a conveyor belt of players moving on and becoming used to following their careers forward.
Though there is a boom of sorts in betting on women’s professional basketball, that will surge for a period because of overall interest, but later subside because those newer are not handicapping the sport as much as having a diversion in the summertime before college and NFL football betting starts back up.
With this in mind, here are some helpful tips for betting on WNBA basketball that you can use to help you win more bets at top-rated sportsbooks.
The WNBA Schedule Is Very Workable for Bettors
Though the WNBA schedule was beefed up to 40 games for 2024, it is still very manageable to handicap because there are a dozen teams. If you look at a week-by-week schedule of women’s pro hoops, three days will have three or four games. The other four days typically have one or two contests.
That makes studying the teams or stats hardly arduous and far less time-consuming. When you have one game and it involves two bad squads, that is an easy “pass” or the same can be true of two top teams where it is hard to find a spread winner.
Follow the Lines Moves Because That’s Who’s Driving the Market
The WNBA came into existence in 1996 and started play in the spring/summer of 1997. Nobody knew if this would ever take hold and make it as a league.
Though sharp sportsbooks later got involved, professional bettors immediately noticed early on that the oddsmakers were seemingly guessing on totals. The sharp basketball bettors were pouncing on these extremely weak numbers and cashing regularly. That brought a change from the books, which started setting limits on totals and began releasing totals later and later after putting out the point spread numbers much earlier.
The oddsmakers finally caught up, but it took longer than expected because the volume of wagers were not there, but the sharp money certainly was. Today, the line on sides and totals are much better from linemakers, yet, they are nowhere near as tough to beat as you will find in the NBA.
Niche Nuggets
Think of it like the lines you will find in smaller conferences in men’s college basketball. They are good numbers, but the more astute hoops bettor can regularly find a few sides and totals to exploit if you are paying attention and that should not be hard to do with so few teams as mentioned.
If you see line movement in a particular window of time, study it daily and let the “wise guys” help you find the softer numbers. They don’t always win, however, it’s better to follow them than flip a coin.
Study the Emerging Markets
Because 1st quarter and first-half numbers are still somewhat new to the betting masses for the WNBA, the sportsbooks have the advantage. It is designed to be a profit center for the books because of inexperienced bettors plopping down cash.
Nonetheless, it is often obvious when the person setting the numbers is posing standard figures for 1st quarter or halftime wagers. Here is what we mean.
- Team A is a 6-point favorite.
- The halftime number has Team A it -3 or -3.5
- The first quarter number is -1.5 or -2.
That is not to say these numbers are incorrect, but if you have a mobile sportsbook or books that do this regularly, they likely are not doing much WNBA action and just posting averages. If you are following closely, you might find an underdog who has strong starters but not much of a bench, making them a potential first-quarter bet or possibly the first half.
Don’t Forget About Props
As mentioned, the star players in the WNBA are becoming more well-known. With the traffic on props largely fixated on those players, one can assume that is where the oddsmaker is spending their time. Instead of trying to beat the books choosing those players, find the Top 10 in scoring, rebounds or assists and look for those less familiar.
These are players who consistently put up good numbers in their category and you should focus your attention on them. They are a bit under the radar, so it’s more likely to find better value daily.
