March Madness betting trends
According to the American Gaming Association (AGA), Americans bet over $10 billion on March Madness games each year. Up until this year, approximately $9.7 billion of that money was bet illegally.
Considering that New Jersey and six other states have joined Nevada in launching legal sports gambling before their 2019 NCAA Tournament, that number is about to change appreciably.
Although, the AGA also estimates 10% of Americans age 21 and older, close to 24 million people, wager nearly $3 billion on March Madness mounts through office pools and so on.
Office pool brackets that are paid are contrary to the law in most states. However, this kind of NCAA March Madness is so ingrained in American culture the numbers aren’t very likely to change.
Forbes Magazine estimates the number of people who will place at least one bet on the NCAA Tournament could be over 100 million.
The road to March Madness
Before the road to March Madness really starts, college basketball teams normally play a regular season of up to 29 games.
The NCAA selects A total of 68 teams to play or play with their way to the NCAA tournament.
The first 32 are automatic bids given to the teams that win their respective conference tournaments, held after the regular season.
Incidentally, you can bet on regular season and conference tournament games in NJ sportsbooks as well, given the games do not take place in NJ or involve NJ-based schools.
The rest 36 teams have been at-large forecasts.
The at-large bids are usually awarded to top-ranked teams and others who had an outstanding regular season but failed to win a conference tournament.
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