With any sport, there’s often a cycle that helps to build and grow its popularity. First, it needs participants at the grassroots level, with there then needing to be a chance to progress into organised local, national, and even international play.
As people play and reach these top divisions, they can grow a following and become fans of the sport itself, encouraging local businesses and broadcast companies to promote the games. Then, more people watch, see it as something that they may enjoy, and then either stick to the fandom or give it a try themselves to potentially feed more talent to the sport’s system.
In many countries, women’s sport had been stuck in the penultimate stage of being broadcast to encourage others to participate. Still, over the last five years or so, there has been a surge in female participation in sport – particularly the most popular global team sports – as well as an uptick in broadcast deals and investment.
Now, figures show that around half of all women worldwide are at least interested in sport, while over three-quarters of those who play sports before adulthood continue to be interested thereafter.
Now, 40 per cent of all athletes in the world are women, with new initiatives from major governing bodies like UEFA, FIFA, and the ECB promoting and funding growth through the levels of their respective sport. Sport isn’t just about watching and playing anymore, though, with there being much more to just being a fan.
With so many women playing sport and much more women’s sport being deservedly given the spotlight and air time, many more are now exploring their betting options, as people knowledgeable in sports often do. A companion activity for the knowledgeable Online sports betting has been around for a while, but it only ever really appeals to knowledgeable followers of each sport.
This is just a result of how sports betting works: as you’re placing money on just about any outcome of a game or competition, you need to know beforehand the ways of the game, form, other news around it, and the strengths and weaknesses of the teams and players.
With more women playing sport and top-class women’s sport being much more accessible now, more fancy their chances in the betting markets. In some countries across Europe, particularly in the UK, betting has been a feature of the sports culture for decades, but in many female sports, fans are emerging in less betting-inclined nations.
The prime example of this is India, where the women’s cricket team is finding a great deal of success, and more want to back them in matches. Being the modern-day, this has been recognised and acted upon by a brand willing to set up free help online.
At asiabet.org, there’s a comprehensive set of guides aimed at helping newcomers understand betting, find the best and most trusted places to bet and learn how to bet. This is even to the extent there are details regarding strategies and other factors. Importantly, the majority of the recommended sites offer odds on major women’s contents.
Having this increase in interest, spotlight increase on the top competitions, and a helpful induction and expert tips resource, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that more women are betting than ever before.
The women’s sports and competitions making waves Two sports outside of athletics have a long history of providing major draws for women in sport: tennis and netball. Now, however, several of the once-male dominated sports are putting women on the same
level as the men’s lines.
The most exciting of these is the upcoming 100-ball cricket competition, The Hundred. Each team in the competition has a men’s and women’s squad, with the competitions running alongside each other and a women’s game kicking off the inaugural tournament this summer. It won’t be short on talent, either, with the women’s teams being stacked with the best players in the world, including Ellyse Perry, as we reported at womensportreport.com. Throughout the tournament, people will bet on run-scorers, run totals, and the eventual winners of the women's The Hundred.
Combat sports are also putting an equal spotlight on the women, promoting female-led fight nights, putting a focus on up-and-comers, and hyping up title bouts. In mixed martial arts, it’s the American promotion UFC that is setting the standard. Being the big-money organisation, it was always on the UFC to do this, but they’ve gone above and beyond to make superstars of the likes of Amanda Nunes, Holly Holm, Valentina Shevchenko, Cris Cyborg, and Ronda Rousey. Round of victory has become a popular choice in MMA betting, especially as Nunes tends to either win in the first or over the distance.
In boxing, the biggest push has been from the UK’s Matchroom promotion, with Katie Taylor headlining the vast women’s boxing stable. The promotion makes a point of not only showcasing the world title fights, but also giving the spotlight to top talents working their way towards stardom, as has recently been showcased with Terri Harper, Rachel Ball, Savannah Marshall, and Shannon Courtenay.
Not only is it increasing the interest in the divisions, but it’s also helping to cultivate an even better and more competitive scene, encouraging more to back closer odds contests for outright winners. There’s a great deal of momentum behind women in sport, particularly in those discussed above, which is helping to create more athletes and more fans.
