Record betting expected for Iowa-South Carolina national championship game

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The national championship game between Dawn Staley-coached South Carolina and Caitlin Clark-led Iowa is expected to break sports betting records.

Undefeated South Carolina is a 6 1/2-point favorite at FanDuel Sportsbook to beat the Hawkeyes on Sunday and avenge last year's 77-73 semifinal loss to Iowa.

But the betting trends at BetMGM have moved in Iowa's direction, though the Gamecocks also are favored by 6 1/2 points at that sportsbook.

“Early action is on Caitlin Clark and Iowa to upset South Carolina in the national championship game," BetMGM trading director Matt Cosgriff said. "Iowa has been the sportsbook’s biggest liability all season on the futures market. South Carolina winning would be a positive result for BetMGM.”

Betting was heavy on Iowa's 71-69 victory over UConn in Saturday night's semifinals. FanDuel reported that game was its most-bet women’s sporting event, breaking the handle by 62% on the Hawkeyes’ 94-87 victory over LSU in the Elite Eight on Monday night. It also beat all NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball games on Friday.

Also, out of 3.25 million brackets at the ESPN Tournament Challenge, 1.08 million (29.68%) had South Carolina facing Iowa for the championship. Among those, 52.2% picked the Gamecocks to win.

South Carolina was the selection of 35.62% of all brackets and Iowa was chosen on 28.84%. No other team had more than 5%.

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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket/ and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness