Sportsbook ads are always ubiquitous during March Madness, but there’s been a notable shift in the marketing tactics being used to attract new female customers in recent years.
Women are still viewed as a largely untapped market for commercial sportsbooks, but researchers and counselors across the country have noted a rise in female users.
“We see a larger growth in females engaged in gambling, partly because of the social acceptability of it, and that it’s everywhere through advertising and things like that,” said Michelle Malkin, an East Carolina University professor who leads the school’s Gambling Research & Policy Initiative.
‘Community’ Messaging to Sports Betting’s Burgeoning Sector
WNBA Hall of Famer Lisa Leslie appealed directly to women on behalf of DraftKings in this spot that rolled out last September, coinciding with the WNBA Playoffs.
Currently, Livvy Dunne can be seen in a Fanatics Sportsbook ad for March Madness. The former LSU gymnast and social media influencer plays multiple versions of herself to promote various incentives at Fanatics.
Retired University of Massachusetts professor Rachel Volberg, who specialized in gambling and problem gambling research, is among industry observers taking note of the shift.
“It is pretty clear that women are increasingly being marketed to with, instead of an emphasis on competition, more of an emphasis on community and doing things together, which would appeal to more women,” Volberg said. “The influencer marketing is clearly a tactic that the sports betting operators have taken from their success with influencers in male sports bettors, and they are now specifically marketing to women.”
Women Not Immune to Gambling Harm
Professional Wellness Management owner Jessica Auslander, a licensed mental health counselor who specializes in gambling disorders, sees an even mix of women and men at her practice in the greater Charlotte metro area.
“The women that I see, I have a few in their 40s, and that is sports betting or poker, and they are former athletes,” Auslander said. “Or I have older women — so we’re talking retirement age — and the appeal for them for gambling — they’re not necessarily doing sports betting — but they’re engaging in more casino-based or online gaming type things. So gaming. That has a component of gambling in it. Or online slot machines, those kinds of things.”
She noted that most of her female patients are “motivated by boredom, depression, grief, isolation.”
Auslander added, “I think as we continue to increase the access to gambling, we’re going to see an increase in all demographics. This industry wants there to be something for everybody.”
While sportsbooks view the recruitment of women as a corporate imperative for long-term growth, counselors will continue to see the number of women seeking treatment rise.
Rowland Edet, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln doctoral student, discusses the dilemma in “Breaking the Odds: A Gendered Analysis of Women and Gambling Behavior.”
“To reduce harm, public health frameworks must prioritize interventions that address the distinct ways women engage with gambling,” Edet wrote. “One key measure is restricting gender-targeted advertising, particularly messages that frame gambling as empowering or stress-relieving — common themes in campaigns aimed at women.”
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Sportsbook ads are always ubiquitous during March Madness, but there’s been a notable shift in the marketing tactics being used to attract new female customers in recent years. Women are still viewed as a largely untapped market for commercial sportsbooks, but researchers and counselors across the country have noted a rise in female users. “We
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