The $7.4 Billion Price Tag for March Madness
Those reports of $3.1 billion in legal bets don’t tell the whole story of wagering on the NCAA mens’s and women’s tournaments. Plus, the percentage of people who bet daily should shock you.
March madness isn’t just a mania for basketball. It’s also a penchant for betting on basketball. Let’s crunch some numbers that apply to the latter.
About a fifth of all Americans are legally wagering $3.1 billion this year on the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments. That’s up from $2.7 billion a year ago and about double what’s bet on the Super Bowl, according to the American Gaming Association (AGA).
But that doesn’t include the unlawful betting—those technically illegal office pool squares and the blatantly illegal bets placed with bookies or made on offshore websites. Add it all up, and the amount of money wagered on the tournaments balloons to a size not many observers seem willing to estimate.
Yet some are game to take a shot at calculating the real total. The Campaign for Fairer Gambling, a nonprofit organization that aims to protect consumers, commissioned a study last year that indicated Americans wagered $4.3 billion illegally on the NCAA tournaments.
Add that to the $3.1 billion figure for this year’s legal bets, and you get a whopping total of $7.4 billion. That comes to no less than $21.76 for each of the 340 million men, women and children living in the United States. Divide the total by the 250 million who are 18 or older, and you get $29.60 each.
But a lot of those people aren’t betting on the NCAA. Estimates of how many put money on the line are scarce, but the AGA placed the number at 68 million in 2023. Dividing that into our estimated total for legal and illegal wagers, yields a quotient of $114.71—a healthy bet by most measures.
Over a hundred bucks seems like real money to most of us and a lot more than a $5 square in the office pool on the NCAA tourney. For most of us that might be our only wager of the year.
For many, however, March madness lasts all year and the betting never stops. Let’s take a look at some numbers that apply to gambling in general.
Placing bets daily
More than a fourth of American adults (28%) gamble online daily, according to a poll by the American Psychiatric Association (APA).
The majority of adults who gamble online and do it daily for at least a few minutes are men (36%), the APA says, while only 20% of women who gamble online do so daily.
Most who wager online daily don’t devote long hours to the pursuit. Just 9% reported devoting more than four hours daily, with only 2% indicating they regularly gamble for over 10 hours a day.
Whatever amount of time they spend, most daily online gamblers form the habit early in life, the APA found. A third (35%) began between the ages of 18 and 25, the crucial period for taking up the pastime. After that, people become increasingly less likely to become online gambling regulars.
But whether gambling becomes routine or remains occasional, the NCAA tournaments spark special interest.
It’s not just the money—but that helps
The nation’s annual spring feast of college basketball means fun for casual gamblers and non-gamblers alike. With 68 of America’s 352 Division I teams making it to the first round, there’s a good chance your favorite might be in the running.
Freelance writer Jason Werk had this to say about it in a LinkedIn posting: “March Madness is more than just a basketball tournament; it’s a cultural phenomenon that captures the hearts and imaginations of millions of fans each year.”
How? “From its thrilling upsets to its nail-biting finishes,” Werk maintains, “the tournament embodies the best of what sports have to offer: passion, excitement and the unyielding belief that anything is possible.”
Add betting to mix and it gets even better, legions of enthusiasts agree. Here’s the take displayed on the website of ESPN, the cable sports channel owned by Walt Disney Co. (DIS): “March Madness isn’t just about basketball; it’s about strategy, surprises and, increasingly, sports betting.”
So, lots of people are doing it. But how do you go about placing a wager?
How to bet on the NCAA tournaments
Fans eager to bet on the matchups don’t need a legal degree to parse the nation’s myriad laws and restrictions concerning gambling on sports. But it would help. Just ask the experts at Legal Sports Report (LSR), which publishes a state-by-state rundown.
One of the most confusing parts of March Madness is figuring out just what’s allowed and where it’s allowed. And it’s not getting any easier to navigate the forest of rules, regulations and laws.
“Rules on college betting are where U.S. sports betting jurisdictions tend to differ the most,” the LSR website says. “The majority of legal states have some form of restriction on college betting, whether it is on player props, in-state betting or college sports entirely like one state.”
Thirty-seven states allow some form of betting on college hoops this year, but the number remains in flux. States continue to add themselves to the roster of jurisdictions where it’s legal, but sometimes they backtrack by reverting to prohibition. A list of betting sites, complete with details on how they work and what they offer, is offered on the LSR website.
No doubt wagering adds to the thrills of the NCAA basketball tournaments, but its dark side becomes evident when gamblers bet more than they can afford. A current Luckbox article explores the financial ruin that can result.
Ed McKinley is Luckbox editor-in-chief.
