The American Gaming Association (AGA), in a new Report, stated that legal bets are included as well as bets placed with illegal bookies and offshore websites. A total of 45 million Americans, or 17% of U.S. adults, plan to place at minimum one wager on the NCAA tournament.
Bill Miller, president and CEO of the association, stated that “there’s no doubt” this year will produce the highest legal handle in March Madness’ history. He was referring to the total amount wagered for the tournament.
Although the college championship tournament is one among the most important events in sports betting, it still falls short of the Super Bowl. According to the association, while Americans placed fewer bets on the Super Bowl win by the Los Angeles Rams (31,000), $7.6 Billion was expected to be wagered on that game. This is more than double the amount predicted for the college basketball tournament.
Nearly 21 million Americans plan to place bets that don’t involve filling in brackets that predict each game winner, including the eventual champion. This has been a popular way to wager on tournaments. However, 36.5 million will place bets on a bracket in a pool contest or similar event; there is some overlap between the two groups.
This report shows that brackets will not be included in more than three quarters of all tournament wagers. This is an increase of 55% over last year. Morning Consult, a polling company, conducted an online survey of 2,210 adults for the AGA.
This is due to an increasing number of states that offer legal sports betting . It is currently offered in 30 states and Washington, D.C. There are 29 million more Americans who live in states where legal sports betting has been adopted since the March Madness tournament.
Eilers & Krejcik Gaming predicts that legal sports betting will surpass $1.5 billion in revenue by 2023. After a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, online betting was legalized in three states. In 2018, the Supreme Court struck down a federal law that prohibited gambling on basketball, football, and other sports. Online sports betting has been legalized in 18 states as of February.
