The WNBA season runs from May to October, and the Connecticut Sun franchise is generally one of a handful of teams earmarked as preseason favorites to win the championship. With legal sports betting now live in Connecticut, there’s never been a better time to learn about WNBA betting.
If you’re not a regular viewer of the WNBA, you’ll soon learn that the league is stacked. Recent champions like the Chicago Sky and the Seattle Storm mix it up with up-and-comers like the Sun and the Las Vegas Aces. Sharpshooters like Tina Charles and Arike Ogunbowale drain points at prime Steph Curry rates. And of course, in Connecticut, we’ve got the absolute superstar Jonquel Jones, the 2021 WNBA MVP.
Whether you like straight-up winner bets on the moneyline, a futures bet on a conference winner or prop bets on how certain players perform game to game, Connecticut sportsbooks likely have the WNBA odds you’re looking for.
Today’s WNBA odds
See below for the latest WNBA odds as posted at Connecticut online sportsbooks. (Note: If no odds showing, it’s the offseason. Futures odds should show in the months leading up to the season; game lines will be available when the season starts.)
WNBA futures odds
Futures bets always attract a lot of attention in the run-up to the start of the season. They’re a great way to get the ball rolling for the months ahead. Additionally, it’s always nice to have something to root for throughout the season.
A futures bet is a wager on some type of season-long or postseason outcome that you can place well in advance. It doesn’t have the immediate payoff (either financially or in entertainment terms) as betting game by game, but everyone loves making predictions at the start of the season.
In the WNBA, you can make futures bets on the championship winner, the winners of either conference and on individual teams to reach the playoffs.
Player futures are popular, too. You could, for example, pick the MVP at the start of the year. You may also find bets on the top scorer for the full season, the playoff MVP and much more.
Another nice aspect of futures is that you normally get pretty attractive odds, even if you’re betting on the favorite. This is because there are so many variables in play over the course of a season, and a lot could change. To get a sense of the options, check out these sample odds on the WNBA title winner on FanDuel Connecticut:
Even if you play it as safe as possible and pick one of the favorites, you’re still going to more than triple your money if you win. A $100 bet on the Connecticut Sun offers the chance at a $400 profit. Not bad for a team with a winning percentage over .800 in 2021.
How to read WNBA betting lines
As you examine your WNBA betting options, you’ll find that there are a lot of them. Long gone are the days of just picking the winning team (although you can still bet that way if you want, of course). Basically, if you think you can predict anything about a WNBA game, you’ll probably find a Connecticut online sportsbook that will let you bet on it. Here are some of the most popular options:
WNBA moneyline bets
Betting on the moneyline is as simple as it comes. It’s a straightforward bet on which side you think will win a single game. If you’re not used to reading moneyline odds, they can be a little tricky at first. Check out this example:
| Seattle Storm | -170 |
| Phoenix Mercury | +140 |
With moneyline odds, the favorite is the team with the negative number (the Storm, in this case), and the underdog has a positive number (the Phoenix Mercury).
In this case, -170 means that a bet of $170 would win $100 if it turned out to be correct. If you bet on Phoenix, +140 means you would stand to win $140 if you bet $100.
It takes a little getting used to it at first, but reading moneyline odds soon becomes second nature.
WNBA point spreads
Betting on the spread is all about predicting not just the winner of the game, but the margin of victory. The sportsbook will set the spread at a number it thinks makes up for the disparity in quality between the teams.
To win a point spread bet, it doesn’t necessarily matter whether your team wins or loses. You only care whether your pick finishes within the listed spread — known as “covering the spread.” Here’s an example:
| Connecticut Sun | -110 (-5.5) |
| Minnesota Lynx | -110 (+5.5) |
In this case, Connecticut is favored, so it effectively starts with a -5.5 point handicap. The Minnesota Lynx, on the other hand, effectively get a 5.5-point head start.
This means if you bet on the Sun and they win by three points, you won’t win your bet. They’ll need to win by a minimum of six points for your bet to win.
With points spread bets, the sportsbooks tend to set the odds just below even money on both teams. Although, as with all bets, it’s subject to line movement depending on the action.
WNBA over/unders
With over/under bets, you just need to predict how many points the two teams will combine to score in a game. The actual winner is not relevant to the outcome of the bet. It’s a great way to bet when you think a game will be a tightly fought shootout, for example.
A typical line might look like this at DraftKings Connecticut:
| Dallas Wings vs. Atlanta Dream | |
|---|---|
| Over | 160.5 (-110) |
| Under | 160.5 (-110) |
If you take the over, all you’re rooting for is more than 160 combined points, whether the game ends 82-81 or 110-52. Likewise, with an under bet, you just need to see fewer than 161 points. As you can see from the odds, these bets are also normally just under even money for both sides.
WNBA prop bets
Prop bets let you wager on a variety of things that might happen in a game. These things may or may not have a massive impact on the result. For example, prop bets on the score during a single quarter of a game are common. You can normally find bets on the stats of different players in the game, like rebounds, assists, points or blocks. You can bet on disciplinary stats, who will score first, even whether the total number of points will be odd or even.
Props can be a good way to get the most out of your WNBA knowledge. They can also be fun if you just want something a little quirkier.
How to create a parlay
Parlays are a way of combining bets together, and they work the same in the WNBA as in any other sport. All you need to do is make your selections and add them to the bet slip. The sportsbook will then automatically provide you with the different parlay options.
It’s easy to add or remove selections and to test out the odds to see how much you would stand to win. Experimenting while you’re building your parlays is all part of the fun.
You can create parlays from a single game, like picking the Sun to win along with Brionna Jones to score more than 18 points. Or you can create parlays from lots of different games, like betting on the Sun, the Chicago Sky and the Seattle Storm to all win on the moneyline.
Since parlays require you to get all of your picks correct, the odds tend to be significantly better than for individual bets.
WNBA live betting
Live betting means you can bet on the games as they happen, minute by minute, second by second. It’s perfect whether you’re sitting courtside, watching at home on TV, or even using the live updates on a sportsbook app to keep an eye on the game while you’re out and about.
Betting on live games gives you the chance to take into account what you’re watching happen on the court. If you can spot how a game is trending, a well-timed live bet may let you cash in.
Live betting options are generally somewhat less comprehensive compared with the bets available in advance of the game. That said, you can still find some pretty interesting live bets, including a full menu of live props, like betting on who will be the next player to score, for example.
Why bet on the WNBA over the NBA
The WNBA is a league on the rise. Attendances (pandemic notwithstanding) and betting revenue have been steadily increasing in the past decade. Additionally, coverage of WNBA games on a variety of media platforms has also become more widespread.
Obviously, if you’re already an NBA fan, you’re going to find a lot to like in the WNBA, too. That said, the two leagues may not be as similar as you think. Even though the NBA is still the top dog, there are some compelling arguments for fans and bettors alike to turn their attention to the WNBA instead. One is very simple:
- In betting terms, the WNBA is a much younger market than the NBA. This translates to more value at sportsbooks.
While the position of the WNBA in the public consciousness has clearly grown, the level of detail still does not match the NBA. This means there is more potential for a sharp bettor to find an edge against a sportsbook, especially in granular markets like player prop bets.
As a particular sport or league becomes more popular among bettors, sportsbooks’ lines typically become more refined. Greater public interest means more research, more data to draw from and more time devoted to setting razor-sharp lines. If you’ve got a piece of inside information, or if you’re a stats whizz who has spotted a trend, you have a realistic chance of outthinking the sportsbook — way more so than with something like the NBA or NFL.
The WNBA also has some technical differences compared with the NBA:
- For one thing, the games are shorter, with four 10-minute quarters.
- The WNBA season is shorter and has fewer teams to keep track of.
Overall, being a WNBA fan makes for a tighter experience, which is certainly appealing to some viewers.
The style of play has some noticeable differences, too. If you think the average modern NBA game has become a 3-point shootout, the WNBA could be a perfect tonic. While 3-point shooting has grown in the WNBA, it’s still much less prevalent than in the NBA. Instead, midrange shooting is a lot more common.
WNBA betting trends and systems
Betting on the WNBA shares some similarities with NBA betting, but it also has some important differences. Below are some WNBA betting trends to keep in mind:
Less line movement
As we’ve said, the WNBA is a much smaller betting market than the NBA (and other leagues like the NFL). This means that it attracts less money, so WNBA lines move less on average. What does this mean for us?
Let’s take the classic betting strategy of betting against the public. The idea behind this concept is that, on average, the public is worse at predicting the outcome than the sportsbook. So, if a line moves in response to tons of small bets from the public, the correct play is to take the other side.
But in the WNBA, there typically aren’t enough casual bettors for this to happen. Instead, line movement in the WNBA is much more likely to be an indication of sharp money, and a good opportunity to follow. This is especially the case when the line moves in the opposite direction of the betting percentages, i.e. reverse line movement.
When you spot this in the WNBA, jump on it.
Value in prop bets
We’ve touched on this already, but you may find more value in props for WNBA games than for any other market. WNBA props are comparatively new. Compared with NBA players, the depth of information on WNBA players is smaller. Additionally, sportsbooks are likely devoting less time to analyzing it. Put simply, sportsbooks are more likely to set their prop lines badly or to be slow to update them.
Simple things like finding out about an injury before the wider public (and the book) can be very valuable. Or, if you’re prepared to put in research on specific prop bets, you’re much more likely to wind up with an edge over the sportsbook.
Where can I watch the WNBA online?
There are lots of ways to watch WNBA games. Much of the season is televised nationally on ESPN and NBC. A WNBA League Pass will give you access to every single WNBA game on demand throughout the season, although it will cost $16.99.
Other platforms, like Amazon Prime and Twitter, have also signed deals to stream WNBA games occasionally.
For the most part, streaming online for free is not possible — with the exception of signing up for a free trial of platforms like Hulu. You can, however, keep track of games live on Connecticut sportsbooks. These may provide minute-by-minute updates and stats from the games as you bet.