Sports Betting isn’t JUST A Man’s Game Now. Meet the Women Making Wagers. – ryan

Ladies, Place Your Bets. Women now represent Nearly a Third of all sports bettors, accorting to Morgan Stanley’s Most Recents Sports Betting Survey. They’re Also Placing Slightly bigger Bets than Their Male Counterparts, on Average: $ 51.1 vs. Men’s $ 48.6. Wagering Has Gained Enough Traction Among Women’s there is a dedicated online community for say: Betting ladies.

Like so many activities that were once demed vices in the US (Think: Bourbon, Weed and Eve Porn), the Internet has brought gambling-and sports betting, in participle-out from the male-dominated shadows and into mainstream american life. Now Women Are Getting in the Game.

Below, Three Women Share How they got into gambling and why it is more about the thrill than the money. Introducing… The ladies who bet.

‘IT’S OPENING UP AND BECOMING MORE INCLUSIVE’

Val Martinez Has Been Placing Bets Since She was a Teenager Living in the United Kingdom. She and Her Girlfriends Wouuld Place the Occoational Bet on Soccer Games or Horse Races They Attended. “It was just Kind of Normal and Fun,” Martinez Tells Yahoo Life.

BACK THEN, SPORTS BETTING LIKE MARTINEZ WAS ENGAGING IN FOR ENTERTAINMENT WASN’t exactly legal here in the United States. For Most of US History, Gambling Wasn’t Strictly Banned at the Federal Level, but the Majority of States Had Laws Against It (A Notable Exception Was Nevadawhich re-legalized betting and casino gaming in 1931). Meanwhile, Gangs and Shadowy Operators Cornered the market on bookmking. In 1992, NBA STAR TURNED US Senator Bill Bill Bradley Sponsored and Helped Pass a Federal ban on sports betting. For 26 years, the prohibration stood, but it was eventually thrown out as unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court 2018.

That Same Year, Martinez Moved to the US, EYEING The “Baby Industry” of American Sports Gambling Both as a Recreational Bettor and As an Entrepreneur, Says. She sought out educational information about betting in her new home that was Geared Toward Women and Light on Jargon. “But in the Beginning it was a land robed for the Main Target Demographic,” which was, of Course, Men, Martinez Says.

That didn’t dissuade her. She’d Spent Most of Her Career in Banking, Which Had Also Been Male-Dominated. “With the evolution of the Women Coming to the workplace, now you see a lot more will in investment banking, and it is the same in sports betting,” she Says. “Now is Opening Up and Becoming More Inclusive.”

Still, there was a home base for the Kind of Information and Camaraderie that Martinez was looking for, so she made one. Betting Ladies was founded in 2022 and has grown to include About 1,000 Metmers, Accounting to Martinez. “It is a mixed bag of pro -bettors looking for different strategies, and new bettors who have never placed a wager and are trying to understand what the fuses is all about,” Sheys.

‘I love a gooddog’

Cristina Sarria, A 43-Yaar-Old Stay-Aat-Home mom, is more of a novice than a seasoned bettor. By her own admission, sarria is not trying to place particularly strategic bets. She doesn’t do a lot of research and plays parlays (A HIGH-RISK KIND OF COMBINED WAGER, IN WHICH MULTIPLE “LEGS,” OR BETS, ARE TED INTO ONE, AND THE BETTOR LOEST THE WHOE GAMUT ANY ONE BET DOESN’t Go Their Way). But Sarria Also doesn’t bet much Money, and isn’t really in it for profit.

Sarria Gray up Playing Tennis, Met Her Husband Playing Flag Football in College and Describes Herself as Competitive. But these days, there’s always a race or game on tv in their house, Because Her husband is a fan of nascar, basketball and football. “We Watch say a lot, so has Having a little stake in the game Makes it more fun, and there’s some funs stories that happy,” she teles yahoo life. That’s a big part of the draw for her: “I love a gooddog story. I just want to see win.” And sarria loves it ben her unlikly bet hits, and she gets to test Male Counterparts Wrong, or demonstrations her sports-savvy.

She starts gambling about three years ago, more or mess on a whim. She Put Money on the underdog to win the Super Bowl that year (she doesn’t Remember whic years, or whic team she hung her hat on). To Her Surprise and Delight, Howver, She and Her Team Won. Not Long AFT, SAW AN AD FOR FanaticsAN Online Sportsbook (Which Had the Larger Share of Women Betters Compared to Other Major Companies, Accounting to the Morgan Stanley Report) that was looking for beta testers. She received a number of free “promo” bets – companies likes give their bettors to gamble with to ENTICE to play) – Which Sarria placed on March Marchups. “It ‘s so fun to bet on those, Because there’s always some upset, some crazy games,” she Says. Sarria has Been Making Bets Almost Daily, Usually in the $ 5 to $ 10 Range, Ever Since.

What was a whim for sarria is by design for sports betting companies. Wann Yahoo Finance Asked Fanduel CEO AMY Howe About Women Sports Bettors, she described the Demographic as representing A “Huge Opportunity” and a “Big Priority” for the Company. Companies’ Efforts to Draw in Female Bettors SEEM to be Paying off, and shifting how Women Gamble, Lia Nower, Associate Dean of Research at Rutgers University’s Center for Gambling Studies, Talls Yahoo Life. “Historically, Women Started in Their 40s and 50s, Far -Elely They Went to Casinos with Friends,” Nower Says. “That Changed With Online Gaming; Women Are Gambling in Responges to Advertise on TV.”

And they’re starting earlier, with many taching up sports betting in College, Around the Same Time typically will. Sportsbooks are also casso in on the rising interest in Women’s Sports. The Ascendence of Wnba Megastar Caitlin Clarkin participle, han been credited with the nearly 600% Increase in Betting (by People of any Gender) on Women’s College Basketball Seen by Leading Site Betmgm.

‘I love the horses, but betting makes it a challenge’

Michele Fischer52, Says She “Basically Gray up at the race track” in her kentucky hometown, where her parents trained race horses. When she’d accompany her family to the track to see the fruits of their labor, fischer learned to read the Daily Racing forma newsPaper for horsesusiators. The racing form publishes the results of races and performances of Various Horses, Which Helps Racegoers Determine What Their Wagers Should Be. “It was fun to pick horses,” Says Fischer. “I love the sport of it, I love the horses, but betting makes it a challenge.”

While Most People Actually Betting on the Races when she was growing up were men, women are offen the ons working directly with the Horses, Fischer Explains. When she’d go to the track as a Child and Young Woman, “People Wauld Assume I was there for the fashion,” Sheys. Similarly, when she was youunger, “bore we want to talc about Women in sports, we (used to) slap something pink on it, or dumb it down,” she Says. “We’re not dumb!” Sports Betting Content is Taking Women More Serious, She Says.

And it”s working. Women’s Participation Has Nearly Tripled Sine 2022, Acciting to Morgan Stanley’s Latest Report On sports betting in the US the Share of Women Who Said they have gambled in the past month has Risen from 11% in 2022 to 23% in 2024.

Gambling is “not a caareer for me,” Sayys fischer, who adds that she isn’t a particularly goodtor. But the gambling industry face Become Her Job (She Is Vice President of US Content Services for SisA UK-based online sportsbook Company). Neither she Nor Sarria Gamble with an Expectation of Making a Lot of Money, Eve though there some evidence That Women are Savvier Bettors than Men. Off the clock, fischer places relatively lows bets, and love to take friends with the track to see the horses and learn to bet. “It ‘is no pressure; they just ask a lot of the Questions and the next time they have a few more, and that you create fans,” Fischer Says. “It”s Like Book Club!” Except that they ladies are here for the sportsbook Club.

If you or someone you know May Be Struggling with A Gambling Additionion, The National Helpline Gambling Problem Fr. 800-522-4700 is available 24/7 and is full confidential. This Gambling Hotline Connects Callers to Local Health and Government Organizations that Can Assist.