{"id":205261,"date":"2022-03-14T11:32:01","date_gmt":"2022-03-14T18:32:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=205261"},"modified":"2023-03-22T10:16:03","modified_gmt":"2023-03-22T15:16:03","slug":"march-madness-handle-could-top-3-billion-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/march-madness-handle-could-top-3-billion-this-year\/","title":{"rendered":"March Madness to Draw More than $3B in Bets, BetMGM Offering $10M Pool"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NCAA Men\u2019s Division I Basketball Tournament commences this week, and with more states than ever allowing regulated sports betting, analysts expect a record handle for the event.<\/p>\n

\"March
Gonzaga players in a recent game. The NCAA Tournament is expected to generate a record betting handle this year. (Image: USA Today<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Approximately 45 million American adults plan to wager $3.1 billion on March Madness this year, according to the American Gaming Association (AGA). Nearly 21 million will bet outside the confines of bracket games, meaning they’ll place wagers online, at brick-and-mortar casinos, with local bookies, or among friends. AGA estimates \u201c36.5 million Americans will wager via a bracket contest or similar pool.\u201d<\/p>\n

While NCAA Tournament brackets will always have a special place in the hearts of casual bettors and college hoops fans alike, the expansion of regulated sports betting in the US is expected to draw more gamblers to casinos and betting apps.<\/p>\n

This year, Americans plan to place a greater share of their bets through non-bracket channels. Of their total betting budget on this year\u2019s tournament, Americans expect to place 76 percent of their wagers outside of brackets, up from 55 percent last year,\u201d<\/strong> notes the AGA.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Today, 30 states and Washington, DC offer some form of live and legal sports betting.<\/p>\n

This March Madness, Geography Really Matters<\/h2>\n

The sheer number of American adults that have access to regulated sports wagering is exponentially higher for the 2022 NCAA Tournament compared to the 2021 number.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince last year\u2019s tournament, 29 million more American adults can legally wager in their home state compared to March Madness 2021 with Arizona, Connecticut, Louisiana, Maryland, North Dakota, South Dakota, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming launching new legal sports betting markets,\u201d according to the AGA.<\/p>\n

\n

Some experts estimate March Madness, which is annually one of the most wagered-on events in the US, will triple the handle of the Super Bowl. Sixty-eight games in the tournament obviously help, but there are also some geographic benefits this year that are likely to play pivotal roles in driving NCAA Tournament betting to record heights.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

For example, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, New York, and Pennsylvania are all hosting games this year. All of those states now offer mobile betting and Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, and Pennsylvania have extensive lineups of land-based casinos. The Final Four is taking place in New Orleans, home to a Caesars-operated integrated resort<\/a>, as well as internet betting.<\/p>\n

March Madness Odds and Ends<\/h2>\n

Gaming companies are finding other ways to capitalize on NCAA Tournament pandemonium. Earlier today, BetMGM said it’s offering a free-to-play game where $10 million will be awarded to anyone that picks a perfect bracket, and a $100,000 guaranteed prize to the top player without an unblemished bracket.<\/p>\n

\n

That comes after rival Bally’s said last week it will dole out $100 million<\/a> to anyone that can assemble a perfect bracket. Neither gaming company needs to worry, because as the NCAA notes, the odds of piecing together an unscathed bracket are a staggering 1 in 9.2 quintillion.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cBettors name Gonzaga (17 percent) as their favorite to win the tournament, followed by Duke (12 percent) and Kentucky (11 percent),\u201d concludes the AGA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The NCAA Men\u2019s Division I Basketball Tournament commences this week, and with more states than ever allowing regulated sports betting, analysts expect a record handle for the event. Approximately 45 million American adults plan to wager $3.1 billion on March Madness this year, according to the American Gaming Association (AGA). Nearly 21 million will bet […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":205263,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33810,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMarch Madness Handle Could Top $3 Billion This Year<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"March Madness betting likely to set new records this year as more Americans have access to legal betting.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"March Madness Handle Could Top $3 Billion This Year\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"March Madness betting likely to set new records this year as more Americans have access to legal betting.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/march-madness-handle-could-top-3-billion-this-year\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-03-14T18:32:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-03-22T15:16:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/zag-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1703\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Todd Shriber\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@etfgodfather\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Todd Shriber\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/march-madness-handle-could-top-3-billion-this-year\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/march-madness-handle-could-top-3-billion-this-year\/\",\"name\":\"March Madness Handle Could Top $3 Billion This Year\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/march-madness-handle-could-top-3-billion-this-year\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/march-madness-handle-could-top-3-billion-this-year\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/zag-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-03-14T18:32:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-22T15:16:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85\"},\"description\":\"March Madness betting likely to set new records this year as more Americans have access to legal betting.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/march-madness-handle-could-top-3-billion-this-year\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/march-madness-handle-could-top-3-billion-this-year\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/march-madness-handle-could-top-3-billion-this-year\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/zag-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/zag-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1703,\"caption\":\"Gonzaga players in a recent game. The NCAA Tournament is expected to generate record betting handle this year. (Image: USA Today)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/march-madness-handle-could-top-3-billion-this-year\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sports Betting\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"March Madness to Draw More than $3B in Bets, BetMGM Offering $10M Pool\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85\",\"name\":\"Todd Shriber\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Todd Shriber\"},\"description\":\"Todd Shriber is a senior news reporter covering gaming financials, casino business, stocks, and mergers and acquisitions for Casino.org. Todd got his start in financial markets as a reporter with Bloomberg News. Later, he became a trader at a Southern California-based long\/short hedge fund, where he specialized in the trading sector and international ETFs leading up to and during the financial crisis. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Currently, Todd analyzes, researches, and writes on ETFs for various web-based publications and financial services firms. Shriber has been featured and quoted in Barron's, CNBC.com, and The Wall Street Journal. His work can also be found on Benzinga, ETF Daily News, ETF Trends, MarketWatch, Fox Business, and Nasdaq.com. He currently resides in Las Vegas, where he enjoys golf and taking his black lab to the dog park. He's also an avid sports fan and likes to wager on college football and the NBA. You can also find him at the three-card poker and roulette table, even though he knows better. Contact Todd at todd.shriber@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/todd-shriber\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/toddshriber\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/etfgodfather\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/todd-shriber\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"March Madness Handle Could Top $3 Billion This Year","description":"March Madness betting likely to set new records this year as more Americans have access to legal betting.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"March Madness Handle Could Top $3 Billion This Year","og_description":"March Madness betting likely to set new records this year as more Americans have access to legal betting.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/march-madness-handle-could-top-3-billion-this-year\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2022-03-14T18:32:01+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-03-22T15:16:03+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1703,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/zag-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Todd Shriber","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@etfgodfather","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Todd Shriber","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/march-madness-handle-could-top-3-billion-this-year\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/march-madness-handle-could-top-3-billion-this-year\/","name":"March Madness Handle Could Top $3 Billion This Year","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/march-madness-handle-could-top-3-billion-this-year\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/march-madness-handle-could-top-3-billion-this-year\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/zag-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2022-03-14T18:32:01+00:00","dateModified":"2023-03-22T15:16:03+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85"},"description":"March Madness betting likely to set new records this year as more Americans have access to legal betting.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/march-madness-handle-could-top-3-billion-this-year\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/march-madness-handle-could-top-3-billion-this-year\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/march-madness-handle-could-top-3-billion-this-year\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/zag-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/zag-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1703,"caption":"Gonzaga players in a recent game. The NCAA Tournament is expected to generate record betting handle this year. (Image: USA Today)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/march-madness-handle-could-top-3-billion-this-year\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sports Betting","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"March Madness to Draw More than $3B in Bets, BetMGM Offering $10M Pool"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85","name":"Todd Shriber","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png","caption":"Todd Shriber"},"description":"Todd Shriber is a senior news reporter covering gaming financials, casino business, stocks, and mergers and acquisitions for Casino.org. Todd got his start in financial markets as a reporter with Bloomberg News. Later, he became a trader at a Southern California-based long\/short hedge fund, where he specialized in the trading sector and international ETFs leading up to and during the financial crisis. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Currently, Todd analyzes, researches, and writes on ETFs for various web-based publications and financial services firms. Shriber has been featured and quoted in Barron's, CNBC.com, and The Wall Street Journal. His work can also be found on Benzinga, ETF Daily News, ETF Trends, MarketWatch, Fox Business, and Nasdaq.com. He currently resides in Las Vegas, where he enjoys golf and taking his black lab to the dog park. He's also an avid sports fan and likes to wager on college football and the NBA. You can also find him at the three-card poker and roulette table, even though he knows better. Contact Todd at todd.shriber@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/todd-shriber","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/toddshriber\/","https:\/\/x.com\/etfgodfather"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/todd-shriber\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205261"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}