TLDR
- Every major US sports gambling scandal so far has involved male athletes, but experts say women aren’t inherently less corruptible
- A 2021 UN report identified gambling-related corruption as a top risk to women’s sports as they become more commercialized
- Betting on the WNBA surged over 100% during Caitlin Clark’s rookie season, with handle continuing to grow
- Match-fixers target vulnerable athletes facing financial stress, addiction, or weak safeguards — not a specific gender
- Experts urge women’s sports leagues to invest in prevention and athlete education before a scandal hits
The growth of women’s sports has been one of the biggest stories in the industry over the past few years. But with rising popularity comes a less welcome side effect: the growing risk of gambling-related corruption.
So far, every major sports gambling scandal in the United States has involved men. Former NBA player Jontay Porter received a lifetime ban and pleaded guilty to federal wire fraud in 2024. He was accused of manipulating his performance to help gamblers win prop bets.
Former Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier was indicted in 2025 on similar charges. In January, 26 men were charged with conspiracy to shave points in NCAA men’s basketball games.
Former Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz Jr. are set to stand trial in November. They face charges of manipulating pitch outcomes to win microbets across parts of three seasons.
Why Women’s Sports Have Been Spared — So Far
Sports integrity expert Chris Kronow Rasmussen told Gambling Insider that the lack of scandals in women’s sports isn’t about gender. It’s about opportunity, incentives, and market conditions.
“I do not think the main explanation is that women are somehow inherently less corrupt than men,” Rasmussen said. “A better explanation is that corruption and manipulation tend to follow opportunity, incentives, access, networks, and vulnerability.”
A 2021 United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime report flagged gambling corruption as one of three major risks to women’s sports integrity. The report predicted the risk would grow as women’s leagues became more commercialized.
Right now, betting markets for women’s sports lack the deep liquidity and wide range of prop bets that make men’s leagues attractive to fixers. Men’s sports offer more in-play betting options and allow larger wagers without moving the market.
That means criminals can more easily profit from manipulation in men’s leagues. But those conditions are shifting.
The Caitlin Clark effect brought a wave of new attention and money to women’s basketball. PENN Entertainment and BetMGM reported betting handle increases of 150% and 108% on the WNBA during her rookie season.
A trader from a major US sportsbook told Gambling Insider that companies “absolutely can feel the increase in handle” in both women’s college basketball and the WNBA. Players like Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd are adding to that momentum.
Experts Call for Early Prevention
Revealed corruption cases in women’s sports have mostly been a European issue. Tennis player Alana Tuayeva was suspended in March for fixing matches at the ITF World Tennis Level Tour in 2023 and 2024. Most other cases involved teams tanking to gain favorable tournament positioning.
The UNODC reported that in 2017, integrity monitors flagged roughly one alert per 557 bettable women’s tennis matches. That compared to one per 165 for men’s matches.
National security expert Matthew Wein said now is the time for women’s leagues to act. He urged leagues to educate athletes about match-fixing risks and build integrity programs from the ground up.
According to charging documents from the January NCAA indictments, conspirators targeted players without lucrative name, image, and likeness deals. Many played at small programs with limited revenue-sharing.
Rasmussen stressed that fixers look for vulnerability — financial stress, addiction, family pressure, or weak safeguards. He said the issue should not be framed as men versus women but as a question of who is vulnerable and whether the betting market is profitable enough to exploit.
INTERPOL guidance on competition manipulation lists bribery, extortion, intimidation, and violence as part of the match-fixing landscape.
As women’s sports betting markets deepen, Rasmussen warned the risk will follow. “If you combine vulnerable participants with expanding betting markets, that risk can absolutely move,” he said. “It may be only a matter of time.”
