Women's football is a highlight, but tennis and volleyball are also growing
According to KTO's research on sports betting in women's sports, in the ranking of the 5 most popular women's sports on the platform, women's football is the absolute favorite with the preference of 89.25% of bettors. Tennis occupies the second position with 9.89%.
In terms of betting volumes, women's football also leads with 43.46%, followed by tennis with 23.02%. Volleyball ranks third - 17.42% - followed by basketball in fourth - 12.8%.
According to the ENV Media study on the rise in popularity of women's football, among the sports played by women, the sport is also the most searched on Google - with 4,100 monthly searches on average over the last 5 years. However, as is also the case with men's football, peaks of interest are driven by major events, such as the Olympics, for example.
In this sense, during the 2024 Olympics, women's football stood out among the top 10 sports categories in the KTO, even beating men's football.
Bets on the women's team accounted for 6.12%, compared to 4.88% for the men's team. However, the difference in total betting volume was minimal: 0.25% for the women's team and 0.24% for the men's team.
The most popular women's leagues
In 2024, 91.81% of players who bet on women's competitions chose football matches, while 8.19% opted for tennis at KTO.
The Brasileirão was the most popular championship, leading in all sports categories with 8.52% of bets and 12.09% of the overall preference.
The Mexican League came in second with 11.16%, followed by the Olympic women's football tournament, which achieved 6.12% popularity and 8.69% of the overall preference.
In the first quarter of 2025, the Mexican Women's Football League stood out, accounting for 55.13% of bets on women's competitions. With 19.95%, the A-League Women and the Argentine Primera División - with 19.8% - complete the top 3.
However, in terms of betting volume, the Australian Open tennis led the period, accounting for 41.30% of the total, followed by the Mexican Women's Football League - 32.61%.
Most frequent types of bets and average amounts bet
In 2024, multiple bets dominated women's sports with 72.13% of the preference. Although single bets had a preference of 23.23%, in terms of total betting volume, the situation was reversed: single bets accounted for 79.11%, compared to 20.53% of multiple bets.
Regarding the time of the bet, the live category was the most used, with 54.51% of the preference, followed by pre-match bets - 27.4% - and mixed bets - 18.11%. In terms of betting volume, this difference was even more significant: 84.85% of bets were made live compared to 11.53% pre-match and 3.62% mixed.
The KTO study also found that, on average, players bet around R$14.70 per competition in women's sports.
What trends does women's sports betting data reveal?
What drives women's sports betting? KTO's analysis shows that women's soccer is the favorite sport, with 89.25% of bettors' preference, followed by tennis (9.89%) and volleyball (17.42% of total bet volume).
Major events, such as the Olympics, intensify interest, to the point where women's soccer sometimes outperforms men's football.
With the growing popularity and diversification of the market, the data reveals that women's sports have been gaining strength and that this is a growing trend in bettor behavior.
Source: Simone do Vale - Educational Researcher at KTO
