Serena Williams’ husband Alexis Ohanian prepares to donate over $7,000 after betting on NCAA women’s basketball amid Caitlin Clark influence claims

Serena Williams' husband, Alexis Ohanian, an active investor in women's sports, placed two bets related to the viewership of the NCAA women's basketball championship. He placed a $7760 bet on women's viewership being more than men's and a $200 bet on it being more than the women's viewership last year.

In March, Ohanian pointed out that he had been talking about women's sports having fans since 2022, and the numbers were finally backing him. He shared a chart that showed the NCAA women's basketball championship viewers shooting up in the past few years and surpassing the men's.

Countering the claim, an X account, Joshua Fang, credited the increase to the popularity of Caitlin Clark. They also added that they would bet on "drastically different" numbers for this year.

Ohanian liked the idea and pitched a plan to place a bet and donate the money to a non-profit. They set up a friendly wager where Fang had to name a percentage drop in viewership from the previous year’s women’s final that he believed would happen.

If the ratings didn’t drop by that much, Ohanian would “win,” and Fang would donate. If they did drop, Ohanian would donate $200 to a charity of Fang’s choice.

Separately, Ohanian placed a $7,760 (presumably related to his investment firm named 776) bet with Erik Berlin on whether the NCAA women’s basketball championship would draw more viewers than the men’s final this year. Ohanian wagered that the women’s final could surpass the men’s in viewership, while Berlin disagreed.

Now, with both matches played, fans asked Ohanian to pay up, as the numbers have declined. This year's women's championship match between UConn Huskies and South Carolina Gamecocks peaked at 9.8 million, declining from an average of 18.9 million last year. He has yet to comment on the $200 wager.

However, Ohanian did comment on the $7,760 wager, saying that he was ready to pay up as soon as the men's numbers came out.

"I'll still be ready to donate the $7,760 once the men's final numbers come in (admittedly, they look likely to come in over the 9.8M viewers the women's final had last night)," Serena Williams’ husband Alexis Ohanian wrote.

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Serena Williams’ husband Alexis Ohanian reaffirms his willingness to pay up for both bets

Alexis Ohanian and Serena Williams at the TGL - Source: Getty

When asked if he was going to pay up on his wagers, Serena Williams' husband, Alexis Ohanian, countered with the fact that the numbers for the men's championship were not in yet. He also added that Juju Watkins' injury was a "shame."

"Do we have the men’s final numbers? That was the bet - men vs women! Shame the JuJu got injured so early but I’m excited to see," he wrote on X.

Another X account added:

"The goalpost moving is embarrassing when you’re this rich"

However, Ohanian assured that he remembered he had two bets placed in the thread of his post and will pay up if he loses.

"lol chill I’m gonna pay if I don’t win. I had two diff bets outstanding in that thread," Serena Williams’ husband Alexis Ohanian wrote.

The men's NCAA basketball championship match was played between the Florida Gators and the Houston Cougars. The Gators won the match 65-63. Last year, the men's championship match averaged over 14.8 million views, and it is highly likely that it will not fall as much as 9.8 million.