Best March Madness Betting Sites For 2024

Best Betting Sites For March Madness Bets

When we look at the best betting sites for March Madness, there are certain things we need to see. If March Madness betting websites don’t have great rewards programs or don’t offer sports bettors a variety of betting options, then they can't be considered the best places to bet on March Madness, so we give them a big thumbs down.

Where To Bet On March Madness Games

Think of us as your own personal selection committee. But instead of seeding teams for a single elimination tournament at Sportsbook Superdome, we’re ranking NCAA basketball sportsbooks and giving you NCAA Tournament betting strategies and tips for March Madness 2023.

Top Sites For March Madness Betting

The best sites to bet on March Madness are not only safe, secure, and trusted betting sites, they also tick off all the other boxes. This is what we look for to ensure a top online betting site is worth your time:

Deposits And Withdrawals

You can fund your account using credit cards (American Express, MasterCard, Visa), debit, e-wallets (PayPal, Skrill, Neteller), and Bitcoin. After you make your deposit, you’re ready to start betting. Most NCAA bracket betting sites require a minimum deposit of about $10, but the amount you bet on the March Madness tournament is up to you.

In terms of collecting your winnings, some of the best online betting sites to bet on March Madness will let you use the same method you used to supply your bankroll. You can also get a paper check mailed to you. The time it takes to get your loot can range from a few hours to a few days.

Only cryptocurrency is instantaneous at March Madness crypto betting sites. Likewise, you can keep your money in your account for future bets or futures bets – more on that below.

Customer Service, Sign Up Bonuses, Rewards And Special Offers

To thank their clients, online sports betting sites provide different March Madness betting bonuses and promotions. These March Madness bonuses range from Welcome Bonuses, which match your initial deposit up to a certain percentage, to boosted odds. Let’s say you added $200 to your bankroll; the March Madness betting site will give you an extra $100 (50 percent) to bet online with.

Some of the best sportsbooks for March Madness betting have their own VIP rewards program, while other sportsbooks offer bonus bets if you create a parlay with NBA basketball games and college ball.

How To Read March Madness Betting Odds

In terms of sporting events, March Madness is the Super Bowl of college basketball betting. If you're still learning how to bet on March Madness, March Madness odds at a Sportsbook would look something like this:

We use American odds but you can switch to Decimal (1.20) or Fractional (1/5). People in the Americas usually stick with their namesake odds, whereas those in Europe and Australia gravitate toward decimals, and U.K. bettors like fractions.

These are college basketball odds for a typical moneyline bet where you would pick a team to win the game straight up. UNC is the favorite and Duke is the underdog. Faves are always represented with minus signs (-), and dogs with plus signs (+). This is universal across all March Madness betting sites.

At -180, oddsmakers predict that the Tar Heels have a 64.29 percent chance of winning the game. If you were to bet $100 on them, you’d get a payout of $155.56 – your original money is returned coupled with your winnings of $55.56.

On the other hand, at +220, the Blue Devils are given a 31.25 percent shot at victory. If you were to bet $100 on them, you’d get $320 – your $100 comes back along with your prize of $220. Bets on underdogs come with more risk, which is why they pay more if you win.

To find out how much you’d win based on the odds and amount bet, check out our Odds Calculator. You’ll also be able to see the percentage chance each team has of winning.

March Madness Betting Options

When betting on individual games, a conference tournament or any regular season college basketball matchup for that matter, you have various betting types at your fingertips. Besides the moneyline, you can bet on the following:

Point Spread Bets On March Madness

Sometimes a team plays in a game where they’re completely outmatched. Other times they play in games where they basically have their victory secured. This is why the point spread exists.

Instead of making a bet on a team to win, you’re picking a team to cover. This also creates a more even betting field because point spreads give the underdog an advantage and the favorite a disadvantage.

Odds would look like this:

In this case, the Nittany Lions would need to win by 10 or more points to cover the spread. Conversely, the Boilermakers would need to win the game outright or not lose by more than nine points for that side of the bet to hit.

Whether it’s a Sweet 16 game, Elite Eight or two seeded teams (like 2 vs 15 where a moneyline bet may not make sense or seems too easy), the spread is an ideal bet to make. Check out our computer picks page for free picks and more info on college basketball picks against the spread.

Totals Bets On March Madness: Betting On The Combined Score

Totals betting is popular with college basketball bettors and March Madness scores because it lets you consider scoring as a whole. To make this type of bet you would need to determine if the combined score from both teams will be more or less than the oddsmaker’s set number.

Odds at NCAA March Madness sites would appear like this:

If you think the Wildcats and Wolverines will collectively score 148 or more points, you would take the OVER. If you think the pooled score will be 147 or less, you would bet the UNDER.

Sometimes the totals will not have a decimal (.5). Let’s pretend that for the same game the total is 147 instead of 147.5. If the final shared score from both teams falls on 147 exactly, it’s called a PUSH. When this happens, you would get your money back since neither the OVER nor the UNDER hit.

Betting On March Madness Futures: Bets For The Long Run

It can be argued that any bet you make is in advance of an event – except for in-play betting but we’ll get to that in a bit. However, with futures odds you can bet weeks or even months before any March Madness brackets appear. A very popular futures bet is on which team will win the national title.

The best March Madness sportsbooks will release odds early so if you see college basketball lines you like, it’s best to grab them right away. Getting a team at plus money (+) will net you a bigger profit than getting them at minus money (-) should your bet hit.

Betting On March Madness Props: Getting More Fun Out Of Your Bets

Prop, short for proposition, is a bet you can make on the occurrence or non-occurrence of certain team or player milestones that may not directly correlate to the outcome of the game. Prop bets are considered even more fun than other March Madness betting markets because you can bet on things like:

Parlay Bets On March Madness

The great thing about the men's basketball tournament is that there are so many March Madness betting games to choose from. If you can’t choose just one to bet on, why not bet on all of them? Parlays let you add multiple bets to one ticket.

You can add a Jayhawks moneyline to a bet on Gonzaga to cover the spread. You can also add bets from other sports like an NHL puckline or a soccer wager. With parlay betting, all your bets must hit in order for your ticket to cash.

If even one bet loses, your entire ticket is a bust like the Virginia Cavaliers in 2018. Depending on the online sportsbook, you could add anywhere from two to 15 bets to your betting slip.

Betting On March Madness Teasers: Creating Your Own Betting Lines

Teasers are special kinds of parlay bets that let you move the action in your favor. You can tease the betting lines by a few points to create a smaller or bigger spread, depending on how you handicap the teams playing. For example, you can move the action by 7 points if that makes sense for the game you’re betting on. Like parlays, all bets on your ticket must win otherwise you can’t cash in.

Because teasers let you adjust the odds to your advantage, they do not pay out as much as a bet where you’re not touching the lines. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t bet a three-team teaser, but keep in mind that you won’t get a huge payout if you win.

March Madness Live Betting: Handicapping Fresh Odds

There will be times when you forget to place your bets before the game or decide at halftime that the OVER you took isn’t going to happen. In-play wagering lets you bet on live odds while the game is unfolding. The best online gambling sites for March Madness will release new odds for spreads, totals and props during commercial breaks.

You can also use live odds to hedge your bets. If you see that your moneyline isn’t going to hit or the team you selected has botched the spread, you could recoup your losses with live picks.

Odds Shark's NCAA Basketball Sites For Betting On March Madness

If you stick to any of the online March Madness betting sites we mention above, you’re in for a great March Madness mobile betting experience. These top March Madness betting sites, along with their betting apps, are by far the best places to bet on March Madness online.