An estimated $2.72 billion could be bet on the NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments at American sportsbooks, according to an analysis published Thursday by the American Gaming Association.
The $2.72 billion estimate is nearly double what is believed to have been wagered on this year's Super Bowl ($1.4 billion), according to Dave Forman, head of research at the American Gaming Association (AGA), the lobbying organization based in Washington, DC. group that represents the casino industry.
Forman said the AGA's analysis was based on monthly sports betting revenue reports published by states, and that only bets placed on NCAA tournaments, not conference tournaments, were included in the estimate, with US sportsbooks
The AGA has conducted online surveys in previous years to produce estimates of how much was bet on the tournament, including pool brackets. Last year's survey indicated that $15.5 billion could be invested in the NCAA tournament, an estimate that included bracket pools and bets with sportsbooks and unlicensed sportsbooks.
“March Madness is the biggest and most popular betting event of the year, especially in brackets,” Forman told ESPN. “But since legal sports betting has been around for five years and is available in nearly 40 states, we wanted to focus on the legal market.”
Forman said no state breaks down the amount wagered on men's and women's games separately, but sportsbooks DraftKings, FanDuel and Tipico reported significant year-over-year growth in their bets for the women's regular season.
Las Vegas casino owner Derek Stevens said betting in the first week of the NCAA men's tournament “exceeds the Super Bowl.” Stevens said his sportsbook at Circa in downtown Las Vegas is sold out for the first few days of the men's tournament.
“It's definitely the most important week of the year, and the Super Bowl is definitely the second most important,” Stevens said.
A report from research firm Eilers and Krejcik Gaming released this week estimates that between 35% and 40% of the amount wagered on the NCAA men's tournament will come from in-game bets, with 5% of the amount being generated through from combined bets on the same game. Eilers and Krejcik also estimated that recent prop betting bans involving NCAA players in Ohio and Maryland could reduce sports betting revenue by 5% to 10% in those states.
Defending champion UConn is the betting favorite to win the men's tournament with odds of +450 on ESPN BET, and South Carolina (-130) is the betting favorite to win the women's tournament.
ESPN's Doug Greenberg contributed to this report.
