Iowa sportsbooks’ handle jumped 17% in March with many surmising much of the increased sports betting activity was due to the iconic women’s basketball player, Caitlin Clark, who plays for the homegrown Iowa Hawkeyes.
Sports Betting Gets a Bounce in March
Iowa Hawkeyes legendary guard, Caitlin Clark, made history this past season by becoming college basketball’s leading career scorer regardless of gender. She has cultivated legions of fans and interest in women’s basketball has reached an all-time high because of her.
However, she also influenced the betting public as she drew eyes to a sport that is often overlooked. People throughout the nation were betting on women’s college basketball and Iowa was no different. Although the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission (IRGC) does not release reports of handle and revenue by sport, it is safe to say that Caitlin Clark’s success throughout the national tournament paid off handsomely at the betting windows in the Hawkeye State.
Betting on the Rise
According to the IRGC, the handle increased 17% to $272.4 million, which includes mobile ($252 million) and retail ($20 million), but the hold was a paltry 6.7% which was likely due to plenty of winning bets on Clark and the Hawkeyes. March 2024’s handle was the sixth-highest in Iowa’s sports betting history, which began in August 2019.
Although revenue was down 8.4% from March 2023, the state did generate $1.2 million in taxes for the month and has now collected $3.6 million over the first three months of the year.
Caitlin Clark Express
It’s unlikely we will see another talent of Caitlin Clark’s ilk in women’s basketball but, as they say, never say never. Yet, Clark had a sizeable economic impact on the surrounding community as she increased ticket sales to the women’s Hawkeyes home games from an average of 6,563 fans before she arrived as a freshman to a whopping 16,538 fans in her senior year.
A snapshot of Clark’s career awards is as follows:
- 2× AP Player of the Year (2023, 2024)
- 2× Honda Sports Award (2023, 2024)
- 2× John R. Wooden Award (2023, 2024)
- 2× Naismith College Player of the Year (2023, 2024)
- The Athletic National Player of the Year
- USBWA First Team All-America
- Big Ten Player of the Year
- First Team All-Big Ten
- 11x Big Ten Player of the Week
“Clark-onomics” has had an economic gravitational pull on the region with Iowa City Mayor Bruce Teague citing a report from the economic research organization Common Sense Institute of Iowa revealing Clark generated an estimated $82.5 million to the local economy.
Viewership Triumph
The viewership for Clark’s run through the national tournament was record-breaking. Iowa’s Elite Eight rematch from last year’s championship game with LSU broke a women’s college basketball record with 12.3 million viewers which peaked at more than 16.1 million viewers.
However, that record was swiftly shattered in the Final Four when Iowa defeated UConn and set a record as ESPN’s most widely viewed college basketball game regardless of gender with 14.2 million viewers and peaking at 17 million.
Yet, that record also fell soon thereafter as the highly-anticipated national championship between Iowa and South Carolina saw earth-shattering viewership with a staggering 24 million viewers, eclipsing any men’s college or pro game since 2019.
Clark decided to forego her final year of college eligibility (fifth year eligible due to COVID) and declared for the WNBA Draft where, to no one’s surprise, she was selected as the No. 1 overall pick of the Indiana Fever.
