Table of Contents
March Madness is upon us; sports fans rejoice there will be 63 college basketball games, with a game nearly every day for the next two weeks. Due to the Supreme Court overturning of the 1992 sports betting band in 2018, March Madness has grown into the premier sports competition to bet on for sports bettors. In 2019, Forbes reported that $8.5 million was wagered on the March Madness tournament. However, those numbers decreased in 2021 by 70%; the total amount wagered in 2021 was $4.9 billion. What impacted the decline was fans deciding to put their money into a bracket versus the actual games in the tournament. In 2022, 45 million people planned to wager 3.1 billion dollars.
New Record For March Madness?
The 2023 Madness tournament is shaping up to be the most bet-on sporting event. An American Gaming Association online survey conducted in early March reported that a quarter of American adults, approximately 68 million, would bet on the 2023 March Madness totaling $15.5 billion, an increase from the 47 million people who wagered on the tournament last year.
A significant reason for this highly anticipated turnout is a direct reflection of the number of states that have passed legislation that allows patrons to wager legally. Since last year states such as Kansas, Ohio, and Massachusetts have legalized sports betting. Further, more people are projected to bet on March Madness than this year’s Super Bowl LV II, which brought in $50.4 million in handle.
“March Madness is one of the best traditions in American sports — and America’s most wagered-on competition,” said AGA President and CEO Bill Miller. “Critically, the expansion of regulated sports betting over the past five years has brought safeguards to more than half of American adults who can now bet legally in their home market.”
According to research by the American Gaming Association, Kentucky is the top choice this year among sports bettors to win the national title, with 9% of those surveyed for the AGA’s research backing the Arizona Wildcats to cut down the nets. Texas A&M follows that at 8%, and then Gonzaga, UCLA, and Alabama at 6%.
March Madness Viewership
On average, the 2022 March Madness tournament brought in 10.7 million viewers across media networks such as TBS, CBS, TNT, and truTV—a 13% increase from last year’s tournament. Streaming platform NCAA March Madness Live generated the largest audience and most minutes for a game in last year’s national championship game between Kansas and UNC. The streaming platform reached 1.6 million concurrent streams, topping the previous game between UNC and Duke, according to data provided by Conviva, which was deemed Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s last game.
March Madness Pool Opportunity
March Madness tends to bring out self-proclaimed college basketball experts. Every year those that participate in completing brackets ultimately come up short. This year will be no different. However, there is a solution, RunYourPool; you can orchestrate a specific pool with your friends to see who the real expert is this year and get a reward.
