In this article, we will provide you with a comprehensive NCAA March Madness betting guide to help you navigate the tournament and make smarter betting decisions. It means a great time to bet on the games, and that is what we are going to discuss in this article.
You don’t have to follow college basketball all season long to make some bets on the March Madness tournament. There is always some luck involved in betting on March Madness, but there are some strategies to keep in mind, and some tips to help guide your choices.
Let’s start breaking some of them down to improve your March Madness predictions and help you make some great wins.
What’s happening right now?
The 2024 NCAA March Madness tournament commenced with all 68 teams participating. Following the completion of the first and second rounds, 16 teams have advanced, narrowing down the competition. The upcoming phase, known as the Final Four, is slated to take place on April 6th. According to Fanduel Connecticut is the favorite to win it all.
As for the Final Four games, here are our expert tips*:
| Game | Team to Bet | Type of bet | Odds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purdue vs. NC State | / | Over 146.5 | -110 |
| UConn vs. Alabama | UConn | Spread -11.5 | -110 |
*Please note that sports betting involves inherent risks, and outcomes are unpredictable. The opinions and recommendations provided in this guide are based on available data and analysis, but they do not guarantee success. It’s important to exercise caution and make informed decisions when engaging in betting activities. We encourage users to gamble responsibly and only wager what they can afford to lose.
And if you’re eager to delve deeper into your betting options, don’t miss our March Madness predictions, offering insights on each game, and our March Madness Parlays Guide, recommending additional betting strategies.
March Madness Special Bonuses
Before you begin betting on March Madness, ensure you take advantage of some of the special bonuses.
As March Madness is one of the most popular events for bettors across the US, many sportsbooks offer special bonuses for those who bet on this event.
| March Games Offers | Offer Details |
|---|---|
| BetMGM March Games Offer | Exclusive Offer: Get a 20% Deposit Match up to $1,600 in Sports Bonus! |
| FanDuel March Games Offer | Bet $5 Get $150 in Bonus Bets! |
| Caesars March Games Offer | Get up to $1,000 Back in Bonus Bets if Your First Bet Doesn't Win! |
| BetRivers March Games Offer | Get a 2nd Chance Bet up to $500! |
Tips For NCAA March Madness Betting
There are a lot of small things you can look for during this tournament season to improve your odds.
Look For Underdogs
Everyone loves a good underdog story, and Cinderella teams are what make the NCAA March Madness tournament extremely popular. Underdogs are going to show up in every tournament, and you should take some underdogs in your bets.
In our opinion, this year, pay attention to teams like James Madison, Princeton, Utah State, and Grand Canyon
Upsets Will Happen
Don’t be discouraged if your Final Four choice loses in the first round because upsets happen every single year. You just need to hope that upsets don’t happen to all of your top picks, but there is always that chance.
Look at Location
The NCAA Tournament is played around the country, and certain teams will get to play close to their campus. Be sure to look at the bracket and find the teams that are playing closest to home.
Blue Bloods Win In March
The top college basketball programs are known as “Blue Bloods,” and they are usually a safe bet to make in March. Blue Blood programs don’t always win the NCAA Tournament, but they usually don’t bow out early either.
Different Types of March Madness Bets
If you plan on betting on the March Madness tournament, then you need to make sure that you understand all of the bets that are available to you. This could be confusing for someone who doesn’t do a ton of sports betting, but remember that there is always the option to simply fill out a bracket.
Let’s take a look at some of the best betting types, and hopefully, you will be able to find one that works for you.
Future Bets
A future is a bet that is placed on an outcome that will happen at some point at a later date. Future bets are usually available several months ahead of the NCAA Tournament and generally center around who will win the upcoming March Madness Tournament.
Some sportsbooks will also take bets on which team will reach the Final Four, and others will take bets on different things when the brackets are revealed.
If you are someone who feels very strongly about a certain team and their ability to cut down the nets, then it might be wise to make a future bet. The odds are constantly changing with a future bet, but there is an opportunity to win some great money if you are able to nail a pick.
Moneyline
If you would rather focus on each individual game of the March Madness tournament, then a moneyline bet is a great place to start. Placing a moneyline bet might not net you a ton of money, but the process is pretty simple and easy to understand.
All you need to do for this type of bet is to pick the winner of a certain game.
The team that is favored to win (usually the higher seed) will have better odds to win that game, and the payout will be less. Picking an underdog team to win a particular game could be very profitable, but it also comes with some obvious risks.
Point Spread
The most common type of bet that is placed on a basketball game is what is called a point spread bet. This bet requires you to pick the winner of a certain matchup in relation to the spread of the final score.
Sportsbooks will set the March Madness point spread, which basically is found based on the probability of a certain outcome to occur. The favorite to win each game will be listed with a minus sign in front of a certain number. That number is the number of points that they believe the favorite will win by.
The underdog in each matchup will have a plus sign in front of a number. The underdog will need to lose by less than that number to win the bet.
This type of bet does not require you to pick the winner or loser of each game, but you will need to pick how close the outcome will be.
Over/Under or Total Betting
An over/under bet is commonly referred to as a “total” bet. This type of bet only deals with the number of total points scored in a certain game, and March Madness over under does not matter who wins or loses, or by how much.
Some bettors prefer this type of bet because it allows them to focus on the number of total points instead of trying to determine the outcome.
How to place a bet on March Madness?
Given the fact that March Madness is the most important event for the American college teams, most of the online sportsbooks already provide an opportunity to bet on March Madness.
If you fancy early betting, now it’s the right time to pick your favorites and place a bet. However, before placing a bet you should know that online sports betting is not allowed in all the states of the USA, and in order to access a sports betting platform, you must be at least 21 years old.
In order to place a bet on March Madness, find an appropriate online sportsbook, make your selection(s), enter your stake and we’ll wait to see what will happen. Good luck!
About The NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament
One of the biggest, most exciting, and most popular sports events in college is the NCAA basketball tournament. In the early days, in 1939, the first NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament counted just eight teams. However, the number of teams that participated grew bigger throughout the years.
Now, the event spans over the course of three weeks each spring and is always one of the most exciting times for sports fans.
As we mentioned above, 68 teams participated in this tournament. That’s why it’s not quite easy to predict the outcomes of the matches.
Pretty often the March Madness is full of surprises. For example, last year a few Cinderellas made it and would’ve been good bets in the Final Four. This is precisely why March Madness odds can vary greatly before and during the tournament.
There are simply plenty of surprises that can occur.
The Final Four is the fifth and penultimate round of the tournament. It’s basically the semi-final of the event, and ultimately the winners get a chance to play in the championship game.
Another important notion worth mentioning is Sweet 16 betting. This is the third round and then the winner of this stage means you then have the chance for Elite 8 betting. The four winners enter the Final Four.
On the other hand, Cinderella is a team that ends up with a much bigger success than expected. If last year Cinderellas made it to the semifinal, you can see how even the biggest favorites could be brought down by some unknown talents.
Insights into NCAA Tournament Team Selection
Lines might shift all the way during the event, but right from the beginning, there are certain favorites and strong assumptions about some teams for March Madness Championship betting.
The stats and analysis of teams’ performance play a pretty big role in determining the odds, and before that even in picking up the 36 teams that have the pedigree to enter the tournament.
As you probably know there are two different ways for a team to enter the NCAA tournament. Thirty-two teams enter the March Madness automatically, by winning their conference tournament regardless of their performance over the season.
As automatic qualifiers, all the winners of the 32 Division I conferences are eligible for the NCAA. The remaining 36 teams are selected by the Selection Committee that convenes on Selection Sunday. This year Selection Sunday was held on March 15.
How to bet on March Madness lines?
Now that we have given you some early March Madness tips, let’s get into the betting itself.
While searching for the best odds on the market, you can follow the latest betting trends by checking related news sources or betting resources like BetMGM Sportsbook.
Here are some specific March Madness tips related to betting strategies.
How to Bet on the Early Round
Generally speaking, the best chance of using the March Madness odds in the Early Round is to focus on the fifth-vs-twelfth-season matchups.
If we take a look at the statistics, more than a third of these teams have won the round of 64 after they were seeded at the twelfth position. This can be a good opportunity for you to form some sort of betting strategy.
Tips for betting on the Sweet Sixteen
The third round of the NCAA tournament is also known as the Sweet 16 round. The best way to use the well-balanced March Madness odds in this round is to take into consideration the conference strength of each team.
The March Madness Final 4 betting tips
By the end of this tournament, there are four teams left. This means that the room for different gambling strategies and tips also becomes smaller. Yet, this doesn’t mean that you should avoid betting in the Final Four round.
In fact, there are some really good odds that you can take advantage of.
You will most likely have to do a lot of research in order to increase your chances in this round.
In the Final Four round, we’ve seen that, in most cases, a higher-seeded team will win and cover the spread.
Power 5 Conference Tournaments
ACC Tournament
According to the latest odds, North Carolina is the favorite to win the ACC Tournament.
Big 12 Tournament
Houston currently holds the best odds to win the Big 12 Tournament.
Big 10 Tournament
Odds makers are giving Purdue the biggest chance to win the Big 10 Tournament.
SEC Tournament
Alabama looks like a sportsbook’s favorite to win the SEC Tournament this year.
Pac 12 Tournament
When it comes to Pac-12 Tournament, Arizona is the favorite to win it this year.
Best Ways to Bet on March Madness
One of the main reasons that March Madness is so popular is the fact that a large portion of the country engages in some form of betting on the games. There are plenty of ways to bet on March Madness, but we will talk about three of the biggest ways to be below.
You know about some of the different types of bets that are available on the NCAA Tournament, but now you need to know where to make these bets.
Office Bracket Pools
One of the most common ways to bet on March Madness is an office bracket pool. This might have started out as a small competition between buddies in the office, but now there are huge pools that can win you some serious money. It can be quite difficult to make a March Madness bracket.
Forming your own bracket pool with some of your closest friends or family is another great way to add some excitement and intrigue to the tournament.
Each pool will come with its own set of “rules,” but the premise is still the same for all of them. Each participant will fill out a bracket before the tournament begins, and points will be awarded for each game that you are able to correctly predict.
Bracket pools are popular with basketball and non-basketball fans alike, and there is definitely some luck involved. You can do all of the research that you want, but this tournament is called “March Madness” because of the great number of upsets that occur each year.
If you plan on doing any betting on the March Madness tournament, make sure that you join some sort of bracket pool. It doesn’t take much time, and it keeps things fun and interesting throughout the month of March.
Retail Sportsbook
If you are lucky enough to live in a state that has regulated betting, then visiting a retail sportsbook might be the best place to bet on the tournament. Retail sportsbooks provide a great atmosphere to watch all of the games while betting on them, and they are worth checking out.
They will offer plenty of betting options for every game of the tournament, giving you a number of different ways to win some money.
If you live in a state that has not legalized sports betting, then you could always travel to another state or the “Mecca” of sports betting. Las Vegas is an extremely popular city to visit all year round, but it’s especially fun to go visit in March.
Las Vegas will have all of your March Madness betting needs as well as other entertainment options during the downtimes.
For those of you who are interested in more details about this tournament, here is our FAQ section.
Check out some common questions and answers about the NCAA tournament, March Madness odds, betting, etc.
NCAA Tournament FAQs
The first method of getting selected for this tournament is for a team to get awarded the automatic bid by winning the postseason conference competition. The other way is the at-large bid where the selection committee will make a decision on the teams’ selection. The committee chooses from 36 teams that are not already selected by the automatic bid.
Yes! Betting on NCAA Basketball is legal in most states that offer legal sports betting.
NCAA Women’s Basketball odds are available on BetMGM and FanDuel.
A team’s seed is actually their ranking in the specific region. As you probably know, the 64 teams are sorted into four regions. Each region has 16 teams, ranked by their performance.
So, why are the seeds important? Well, you can use them to make your own tips and strategies while betting on this tournament. By checking seeds and each team’s stats, you can choose which March Madness odds can work in your favor.
When we say that a team is “on the bubble”, it means that their qualification for this tournament can go either way. This team’s selection is not guaranteed in any way.
Can this information be useful to you as a bettor? Of course. This team can become a potential surprise and thus have some really good March Madness odds attached to it.
A Cinderella team is a team that makes much greater results during the season than it was expected. This kind of surprise is compared to the famous fairy tale character.
No. The First Four is the name of the first phase in the NCAA competition. This phase was added once the tournament was expanded to 68 teams. The results from these four games will determine which of the eight teams will move to the first round of the competition.
This round of the competition got its name because of the number of teams that are left in the NCAA tournament. It is also the final round for each regional game and preparation for the Final Four round.
Once the fifth round of this tournament starts, we are left with the final four teams. With this phase, the overall excitement for the NCAA competition is starting to get bigger and bigger. The two teams that win the regional face-off can then enter into the championship game.
March Madness 2024 officially began on March 17th and will end on April 8th with the NCAA Championship Game.
The March Madness 2024 locations for the first & second rounds are played across 8 cities: Dayton (OH), Brooklyn (NY), Charlotte (NC), Indianapolis (IN), Omaha (NE), Pittsburgh (KA), Salt Lake City (Utah), Spokane (WA), Memphis (TN). Then for the Sweet 16 & Elite 8, March Madness 2024 locations move to Boston (MA), Dallas (TX), Detroit (MI), and Los Angeles (CA). Finally, the Final Four and Championship game will be played in the Stadium in Glendale (AZ).
Online Sportsbook
Online betting has become one of the most popular ways to bet on sports, and that includes betting on the March Madness tournament. It is legal in many states in the United States, please confirm the legality in your state.
If you plan on betting on the March Madness tournament online, then the first step is to find a basketball betting app that is legal and find one that has great betting options on the NCAA Tournament.
States that have legalized online betting will have a list of licensed sportsbooks that are able to take bets on the March Madness tournament. If you live in a state that has not yet legalized sports betting, then you can always find an offshore sportsbook to take your bets.
Online betting, or betting on your mobile device, is a quick and easy way to get in on the action.
- Try using a FanDuel Promo Code in your state.
