Legal sports betting among women and on women’s sports is seeing a spike worldwide, a recent study reported.
“Breaking Barriers: Assessing Women’s Sports, Betting, and Integrity Challenges” was conducted by the German Sport University Cologne and launched at iGaming Business Live in Amsterdam on Wednesday. The study analyzed the economic development of women’s soccer, basketball, tennis, volleyball, and cricket. Coming on the heels of the Women’s World Cup — which begins next week — the study found more growth among women betting on sports than men.
Women’s soccer saw a 20% increase in bets from 2017-2022, with most of that growth coming since 2020. The other four sports have spiked 10% during the study’s research period.
“The dramatic growth of women’s sports is a hugely positive development – for fans, the sports, and athletes themselves, and also for the betting market,” Khalid Ali, CEO of the International Betting Integrity Association, said in a statement. “It is creating very significant and untapped opportunities for sports betting.”
The study was sponsored by the IBIA and All-In Diversity Project as well as Stats Perform and legal sports betting companies Entain and Flutter.
Suspicious betting results
The German Sport University Cologne’s study also looked at responsible gambling and match fixing. It found no discernable suspicious betting trends in women’s sports, but it does occur. Match corruption was deemed most likely in tennis and found that imposed sanctions and financial stakes were lower in women’s sports than men’s.
And while public match-fixing incidents were lower, it could lead to a perception that suspicious activity is occurring less in women’s sports, but the study noted that insufficient data must be considered.
“This study wants to be the beginning of a conversation with the betting industry on how it addresses women’s sports,” All-In Diversity co-founder Christina Thakor-Rankin said. “By understanding what this new and rapidly evolving landscape looks like we put ourselves in the best possible position to keep customers, sports betting operators, athletes, and sport safe for all.”
Sports integrity recommendations
The study offered ways to fight match fixing. Recommendations include enhancing cooperation between sports governing bodies, sports betting sites, and law enforcement agencies to strengthen the monitoring and regulation of women’s sports.
Another way is to raise awareness and promote integrity in women’s sports to foster a more vigilant and responsible community.
The study also calls for the development of educational and awareness programs, fair wages, and transparency to reduce the risk of match-fixing, and improved data and research availability.
“With increased growth, comes an increased responsibility for ensuring we get ahead of the game when it comes to sports integrity and the fight against match-fixing in women’s sport,” Ali said. “There is no room for complacency.
