Let the madness begin.
The NCAA men’s basketball presents an enormous amount of sports betting action.
There are 48 games between Thursday and Sunday this week. Spreads, totals, moneylines, parlays, prop bets, and future wagers provide seemingly endless opportunities.
Several online sportsbooks were kind enough to provide Covers with insights into where the money is flowing and what teams bettors expect to succeed (or fall apart).
Chalk it up
It comes as no surprise that the tournament’s No. 1 seeds dominate the futures market.
The public loves chalk, even at less advantageous odds. And Blue Bloods are favorites for a reason.
UConn, Houston, Purdue, and North Carolina picked up the top seeds this year. The Huskies and Tar Heels are as blue-blooded as it gets.
In bet365’s bracket challenge contest, UConn has received 25% of the entries to cut down the nets.
At DraftKings, the favorite Huskies at +360 are second in handle and bets to win the NCAA tournament. Houston holds 20% of the handle while third-seeded Kentucky, another blue blood, has the highest percentage of bets at 14%.
Purdue has been the leader in bets to win it all at Caesars. UConn, Houston, Kansas, and UNC follow. However, in terms of handle, Houston leads the field with UConn, Purdue, Tennessee, and UNC behind the Cougars.
Tourney built on dreams
This month’s event didn’t earn its madness tag because chalk survives and advances every round. Underdogs are always the main storyline in the first few days of the tournament.
This year, NC State appears to be a popular pick. The Wolfpack won five games in five days to claim the ACC tournament title last week, and 11th-seeded NC State is claiming the highest number of handle and bets to upset sixth-seeded Texas Tech at DraftKings.
McNeese State, which takes on Gonzaga in a game that’s DraftKings’ most-bet game, is the second-largest upset pick. The popular underdog with a 30-3 record is getting 64% of the spread tickets and 60% of the handle while 88% of the moneyline wagers are on Will Wade’s 12th seed.
At FanDuel, 78% of the betting action is on McNeese State to win outright.
Thirteenth-seeded Samford beating a fourth-seeded Kansas squad that’s playing without star player Kevin McCullar Jr. is the most-bet upset at BetMGM.
Akron over Creighton and Duquesne over BYU are other highly bet upsets.
Other popular picks
- Contestants in the bet365 bracket challenge from the Tar Heel State made UNC their top selection. Sports betting launched in North Carolina last week.
- Kentucky fans, who always show love for Big Blue, made the Wildcats the top pick in the Bluegrass State to win it all in the contest.
- Caesars picked up a $1 million wager from famous gambler Mattress Mack on Houston. If the Cougars win it all, he’ll net $7.5 million.
- The most bet team in the NCAA women’s tournament is the -145 favorite South Carolina Gamecocks followed by Iowa, LSU, UConn, and Stanford, according to Caesars.
- The same online sportsbook is sweating a $1,000 bet made by an Arizona bettor in February on the surprising Washington State Cougars to win the NCAA Tournament at +50000.
