{"id":273790,"date":"2025-11-10T08:00:31","date_gmt":"2025-11-10T08:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/273790\/"},"modified":"2025-11-10T08:00:31","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T08:00:31","slug":"men-are-betting-on-wnba-players-menstrual-cycles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/273790\/","title":{"rendered":"Men Are Betting on WNBA Players’ Menstrual Cycles"},"content":{"rendered":"

The \u201cwoosh\u201d of a dildo<\/a> flying past your face. Tribalistic chants<\/a>. Men making bets on your bodily functions.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t a cult\u2014this is a day in the life of a modern-day WNBA player.<\/p>\n

That last indignity on the list? It\u2019s a sports betting strategy that\u2019s been getting increasing play over the course of this WNBA season, which is wrapping up as the Las Vegas Aces and Phoenix Mercury face off in the finals. Dozens of dedicated gamblers online are making bets<\/a> on players\u2019 potential performance based on their \u201cpredictions\u201d (or, rather, assumptions)<\/a> about their menstrual cycles. Some actually call it \u201cblood money<\/a>,\u201d because \u2026 of course they do.<\/p>\n

One prominent figure making and predicting these wagers, who goes by FadeMeBets online, has garnered thousands of likes and shares on Instagram for his menstrual cycle betting strategy. He claims he\u2019s been correct on 11 out of 16 of his period-related predictions, with about 68.75 percent accuracy. \u201cWhat’s kind of good, but also kind of bad, is it brings more people to watch the WNBA, but, on the downside of that, it’s usually just all gamblers,\u201d says FadeMeBets, who declined to be named, citing privacy concerns.<\/p>\n

This WNBA season has been a record-breaker\u2014more fans in the stands, more eyes on the screen, more viral moments. The league announced that attendance passed a historic<\/a> 2.5 million earlier this summer. Meanwhile, high-profile players like Angel Reese, Paige Bueckers, and Caitlin Clark have added a boost and become household names.<\/p>\n

The newfound interest in the league has more men watching the sport than women<\/a>, and the overwhelming rise of sports gambling means some of them are betting on the games\u2014and the players\u2019 periods\u2014which experts warn isn\u2019t just pseudoscientific, but sexist, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot every woman is the same. Yes, there’s the traditional 28-day cycle, but everyone’s is different, and it varies person to person, month by month,\u201d says Amy West<\/a>, a sports medicine physician. \u201cSomeone being able to predict that? Someone who’s not very close to the menstruating person? It\u2019s actually kind of silly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Methods to the Madness<\/p>\n

FadeMeBets admits that predicting WNBA player performance based on menstrual cycle assumptions is more art than science. His typical menstrual cycle prediction videos all start with the vaguely menacing phrase: \u201cWe\u2019ve got a victim, boys.\u201d (By this, he says the victim is the betting line<\/a>\u2014the odds set out by sportsbooks that determine a person’s payout\u2014not the player herself.) He then shares predictions about whether a specific player is menstruating, ovulating, or in their late luteal phase, which occurs after ovulation and before the period comes. For instance, he said this summer of Clark<\/a>: \u201cShe is on the end of her late luteal phase, meaning a decrease in cardio, decrease in strength, decrease in aerobic system, she\u2019s going to be tired more often than in a normal game.\u201d<\/p>\n

FadeMeBets told viewers to \u201cbet the under\u201d on Clark that game, projecting that she\u2019d score lower than the number predicted by oddsmakers on sports betting apps, and, in this case, Clark did.<\/p>\n

He looks at two major metrics over time: \u201cField goal %\u201d\u2014which is essentially how efficient a shooter is\u2014and \u201cPlus\/minus,\u201d measuring a player’s impact on a team when they\u2019re on the court vs. when they\u2019re off.<\/p>\n