NCAA Basketball Tournament Takes Center Stage for Gamblers

The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament begins Thursday, and with it will come a slew of betting opportunities that will attract both basketball fans and those who have never seen the sport alike.

The most common form of “gambling” on the tournament known as March Madness come in the form of “bracket pools.” These contests require players to guess the results of each game in the tournament, with successful choices in the later rounds scoring more points than early round predictions. Those who score the most points can win prizes that range from simple bragging rights to large cash rewards, with national bracket contests organized by groups like Yahoo and ESPN attracting millions of entries.

While winning these bracket contests requires a lot of luck, there are a few tips you can use to help increase your chances of winning. For one, don’t simply pick the top seeds in each region to make it to the Final Four. Not only is such a result unlikely – there are always upsets throughout the tournament – but your bracket won’t have a chance to break away from the pack, since many other players will pick the chalk to make it deep in the tournament as well. At the same time, don’t go crazy; a couple #1 seeds will probably make the Final Four, and the other finalists are likely to be relatively high seeds as well. If you’re looking for first round upsets, remember that at least one #12 seed has defeated a #5 seed in nearly every year since the tournament expanded to 64 teams.

Of course, standard sports betting action also picks up around tournament time. Gamblers can wager on each individual tournament game or place futures bets on the overall winner and the winners of each region.

The early tournament odds see three teams listed nearly as co-favorites to win: Kansas (4-1), Ohio State (9-2) and Duke (9-2). The other #1 seed, Pittsburgh, is a relative outsider at 8-1. The Big East was widely regarded as the strongest conference in college basketball this year, and the odds on several other teams reflect this; UConn (14-1), Notre Dame (20-1), Syracuse (20-1) and Louisville (22-1) are all given reasonable chances to win the tournament.

Of course, for some players, betting on Cinderella is where the real fun comes from in March Madness. Those gamblers might like San Diego State (20-1), BYU (30-1) or even last year’s finalist Butler (150-1) as relative longshots.