How Much Money Is Bet On March Madness Annually?

For three-plus weeks, the sports world is enthralled by the drama of the March Madness tournament, where we routinely see David beat Goliath.

In 2023, the top seed in the East, the Purdue Boilermakers, lost to the 16th-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson Knights. Purdue lost despite being overwhelming -7000 favorites to the Knights, who were +2000 dogs. A successful $100 bet on the Knights would have returned a $2,100 payout. With those types of profits, sports bettors flock to the tournament in droves.

In 2024, the American Gaming Association predicted $2.72 billion would be wagered on the tournament at legal sportsbooks. That's nearly twice as much as was bet on the Super Bowl ($1.4 billion).

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People Love To Bet On Sports, Especially March Madness

Remember that $2.72 billion is only money wagered at legal sportsbooks, but Americans wager on March Madness in many different ways. 

Last year, the AGA estimated that a quarter of adults in America (68 million) would bet some $15.5 billion on the tournament in one way or another. 

Now, if you're paying attention to the numbers, you might be thinking $2.72 is way lower than $15.5 billion. But this year's estimate by the AGA is only concerned with bets made at legal sportsbooks.

They aren't counting your friend Greg's insane bracket that he swears will be perfect, despite it never happening and holding 1 in 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 odds.

Some might still be betting on offshore books, which isn't counted. They might also be betting through non-traditional methods, such as sweepstakes sites like ProphetX or prediction markets like Kalshi.

Explosion Of Action Since Legalization

Prior to 2018, you could only bet on sports in Vegas, but since PSPA was repealed, gamers can get in on the action across 40 states. 

That has led to an explosion in betting activity surrounding the tournament. Specifically, in 2023, the estimated amount bet quintupled from the prior year's $3.1 billion to $15.5 billion. That was thanks to an estimated 23 million more Americans betting on the tournament.

In 2004, the total bet on March Madness was $122.3 million.

This chart shows the total handle – a fancy way to say how much money is bet on March Madness – in Las Vegas for the NCAA Tournament since 2004.

*approximation based on AGA numbers
**Only includes bets placed at legal sportsbooks

March Madness Betting Tips?

Remember, you have a 1 in 9.2 quintillion shot of picking all 63 games correctly. For this reason, we suggest looking into other Madness betting angles on top of bracketry.

We’re not saying you shouldn’t create a bracket, but you can bet on March Madness in other ways. We recommend the following:

Our March Madness betting tips, NCAAB Betting News, Odds, Free Picks and Consensus pages can help you handicap your bets, identify betting trends and review futures odds.

What About The NCAA? Does It Clean Up During March Madness?

No matter how much money is bet on the NCAA basketball tournament each year, the competing schools do not see any of the money, no matter how many times your school is billed as “the team to win.” But they do get a piece of that sweet ad revenue and broadcasting rights pie.

CBS Sports and Turner Broadcasting – you know, the people who bring us NCIS (insert big city here) and every single Atlanta sports game ever – paid $19.6 billion for the streaming and television rights to the college basketball tournament from 2011 to 2032.

By 2032, Shaq will be president and CEO of the entire world, and we’ll all be living in hypoallergenic yurts, but there’s a possibility UCLA will finally win another title.

The average person watches at least six hours of March Madness each year (not including conference tournaments or basketball bets research), foregoing physical activity and sitting on their couch to watch Tom Izzo try to squeeze as much out of his freshmen as he can.

In 2024 alone, over 24 million Americans tuned in to watch the final between the UConn Huskies and the Prudue Boilermakers. That was an 89% increase from the previous year and a 285% jump from 2022.

March Madness is college basketball’s version of the Super Bowl. Just taking a quick glance at how much is bet on the NCAA basketball tournament each year, you can tell there are betting opportunities everywhere. Even if you stick to traditional bracket pools, you can still find fun spots to bet against your cousin.