Women increasingly interested in sports betting amid newfound appeal

Long considered the preserve of young men and their elders, sports betting attitudes are shifting in one major way according to one study published by the Journal of Australian Studies.

There is a significant liberalization and emancipation of gender appeal in sports betting, with women now constituting a significant part of betting audiences. This is according to PhD candidate Rohann Irving from the School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences.

Women are slowly driving inroads in the sports betting landscape

Irving acknowledges a claim that nearly 9 out of 10 sports bettors in Australia are actually men, and why this was the case. However, the PhD candidate observed a noticeable trend and shift in consumer preferences that has already incentivized companies to try and attract a more diverse range of bettors, and namely – women.

"Historically, sports betting has been restricted to venues like TABs or the betting areas of pubs, which are largely male-dominated spaces, but technology such as smartphones has made gambling far more accessible to women," Irving explained.

Because of the above, betting companies are now trying to capitalize on this slight shift in the appeal of sports, that is to say, that women are now much more open to placing wagers, and not just on sports – but entertainment events that are being monetized through traditional sportsbooks but also through prediction markets.

Women may be willing to bet on whether Taylor Swift would win the Grammys, for example, or participate in betting markets for formats such as The Bachelor or Love Island. Irving has gone to further dive into the reason why this shift has been observed.

He spoke about shifting socioeconomic patterns, with women now integrated into the workforce and even outearning their male peers. Women are increasingly better educated and better paid than men in most developed societies, and the United States and Australia in particular.

"Historically men controlled the household's economic means, restricting women's access to gambling," Irving said, arguing that when the first bookmakers were introduced in 1906, it was actually an offense to have a woman place a wager.

Economic emancipation makes gambling available to women, but are there risks

Emancipation and integration into the workforce have helped tear the barriers down and enter pastimes that were previously exclusively enjoyed by men and men alone.

Of course, Irving also raises a question about the level of harm women experience, and the fact that most of the research into gambling-related harm has been exclusively focusing on men, with a new challenge emerging – how to protect women from the pernicious effects of gambling.

"Sports betting companies targeting women, and the strategies they employ in doing so, is a shift that should be treated with scrutiny," Irving cautions, as this new trend is emerging.

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