The WNBA has been growing in popularity ever since it was founded in 1996. Another market that is growing exponentially in the US is online sports betting. If you are a fan of both, you can combine them by placing wagers on WNBA games throughout the season. If this is all news to you, then you’re in the right place.
Betting on the WNBA will involve you downloading a sportsbook app and navigating to find the WNBA betting section. There you will see lots of betting options. If this is your first time wagering with a legal US sportsbook, you might be confused by what you are seeing. Our expert guide below will explain all the betting types you can expect to see and how to use them for your WNBA betting.
WNBA Bet Types
Spreads
Spread betting is one of the most popular types of wager across all US sports. With spread betting, you are not just betting on the winner of a game but also on the margin of that victory. It’s a type of betting designed to get equal numbers of people betting on both the favorite and the underdog.
The sportsbook will present you with a point spread, and the numbers will have symbols next to them. In WNBA betting, these symbols represent the favorite (-) and the underdog (+). Say there is a team favored -5.5. That team would have to win by six points or more for your spread bet to come through. With the underdog at +5.5, it is slightly different. The underdog can lose in a margin of fewer than six points or win the game, and your bet will come through. Spread bets make even the most one-sided games more exciting.
Teasers
You may have heard of WNBA parlay bets, a wager that combines multiple markets into one bet. Teaser bets are similar but are exclusively available with point spreads and let you move in the odds in your favor by changing the spread. Things would change dramatically if you were betting on the Los Angeles Sparks (-7) and the New York Liberty (+7) and added a -5.5 teaser. The Sparks would be only -1.5 favorites, and the Liberty would be +12.5 underdogs. This completely changes your prospects of winning a bet. The most popular teaser margins are -4.5, -5, -5.5.
Totals
Total betting completely disregards who the winner of a game might be and focuses instead on the score that will be accumulated. Before the game, the sportsbook will present you with a prospective score, and you have to wager whether you think the actual score will be over or under that amount. This is another type of betting where sportsbooks are trying to encourage equal betting on both options.
The great thing with total bets is that it doesn’t matter from where the points are coming. Even if it’s just one team sinking three-pointers for four quarters, your bet can still win. Or if you’ve back the under, suddenly dull low scoring games can be exciting.
Futures
Future betting takes all the thrill you enjoy on your typical WNBA bet and stretches it out to last a season. These types of wagers are specifically for events far in the future, and the markets will primarily be offered on the biggest events. This can be teams events like the WNBA Finals or individual awards such as MVP.
A tip our experts can give you is to wager as early as possible if you know a future market on which you want to bet. Sportsbook offered the best odds far in advance because the events of the season haven’t impacted predictions. As with all types of WNBA betting, the favorite will have a (-) symbol, and the underdog will have a (+) symbol.
Legal WNBA Betting in the US
Although the WNBA began in the 90s, online sports betting has had to wait much longer to launch in the US. In 2018 the US Supreme Court struck down the PASPA, allowing states to legalize online sports betting. Many states have jumped at the chance and have already legalized online sports betting. More are looking to do so soon.
If you want to bet on the WNBA, you will need to visit one of the states where sports wagers are legal. Once there, be sure to check you are of legal gambling age. Then, you can download a sportsbook app and start your WNBA betting experience.
