If you browse most legal Canadian and US sports betting apps looking for WNBA markets, you’re probably only going to find some futures for the 2022 league championship. Undoubtedly, you’ll notice a complete absence of lines for the 2022 WNBA Draft.
In most Canadian provinces and US jurisdictions with legal online sports betting, it’s also completely legal to wager on this event. The fact that you can’t find the markets, then, is a lesson in “just because they can doesn’t mean they do.” The reasons why sportsbooks are punting on this event bear some explanation as well.
No 2022 WNBA Draft odds around legal apps
There are some places in North America with legal online sports betting where the law doesn’t allow for such wagers. Iowa is one such place. In most others, though, these bets are perfectly legal.
Despite that, no legal sportsbooks taking wagers online in any of the permissible North American jurisdictions have action on the event. The 2022 WNBA Draft begins at 7 p.m. EDT on Monday, April 11. ESPN will carry live coverage.
A dozen prospects will attend in person at the Spring Studios in New York City. Those women are:
- Kierstan Bell
- Rae Burrell
- Veronica Burton
- Nia Clouden
- Elissa Cunane
- Emily Engstler
- Destanni Henderson
- Rhyne Howard
- Naz Hillmon
- Nyara Sabally
- NaLyssa Smith
If there were active markets for who would go with the first overall pick, these women would be among those with the shortest odds in that field. So, why aren’t these bets available? There are several possible reasons.
Sportsbooks’ liability and unfamiliarity
This is a classic case of just because they can offer wagers on an event doesn’t mean they do. In this case, the “they” refers to online sportsbooks.
Each time a sportsbook posts lines for a sporting event, it is opening itself up to potentially losing money. To limit that liability, it must have a sound position on the event. If it isn’t confident that it can make money on an offering, it’s often better to not offer the event.
That’s likely the reasoning behind the lack of WNBA Draft odds this year. Trading departments for these sportsbooks simply aren’t familiar enough with the athletes and the franchises that may select them to offer markets with confidence.
To be thorough, that unfamiliarity is a choice. The trading department staffs do their due diligence to study prospects and team needs for the NBA Draft each year, then offer a myriad of markets as the law allows.
On the other hand, the short turn-around from the end of the college basketball season to the WNBA Draft does trading department staff no favors. It leaves them very little time to gather information on prospects who declare for the Draft.
Then again, that wouldn’t matter as much if they did their homework prior. Hopefully, as betting action on WNBA regular-season and playoff markets grows, the sportsbooks will invest appropriate resources to make offering WNBA Draft lines each year feasible.
Until then, this will continue to be a point of disparity between how legal North American sports betting apps treat the NBA and WNBA.
