March Madness is one of the top sporting events of the year. It draws the excitement, every year, of millions of viewers.
One of the psychologically and economically most fascinating questions in the context of March Madness spectatorship is this: what is the relationship between excitement and money?
Do exciting sports events inspire people to wager more? Or is the excitement provided by the sports themselves sufficient, such that people don’t need to bet on them?
The growing number of bettors at the sportsbooks provides an answer to these questions: betting on March Madness maximizes the excitement that it offers. One reason is that you get invested financially and emotionally in more teams.
So, just how many people are figuring out that betting is a very exciting activity? Let’s take a look at the numbers.
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2022 Numbers
Let’s start with the betting numbers from the March Madness event that took place two years ago. One thing that we will see a bit more clearly is the extent to which the ability to place bets influences the changing betting numbers.
2022 did see a lot of betting action on March Madness, but it was substantially lower than the 2023 March Madness action.
In 2022, 3.1 billion dollars was wagered on March Madness. This dollar amount came from approximately 45 million American adults, which means that about 18% – close to one-fifth – of the American adult population wagered on March Madness.
What Are People Betting On?
March Madness is most visibly associated with brackets – people like to fill out brackets and try to make them as accurate as possible.
So, you might be surprised to find out that the vast majority of March Madness bettors are not wagering on brackets.
In 2022, just over three-quarters of March Madness bettors wagered on things that were not brackets.
There are lots of options besides bracket contests. Retail and online sportsbooks also have popular offerings. This figure of just over 75% accounts also for bettors working with a bookie and those who place wagers with friends.
At these betting sites, one can bet on individual games, potentially props, and other things that are not brackets.
Huge Rise In 2023 Numbers
Fast-forward to last year, 2023, and we see a huge rise in the March Madness betting numbers. We are even eclipsing the Super Bowl betting numbers. Last year, relative to 2022, we saw a seven-percent increase in the number of adult March Madness bettors and a 12.4 million dollar increase in money wagered.
To be exact – as far as the estimates allow us – 68 million, or 25%, of American adults wagered on March Madness. They wagered a total of 15.5 billion dollars. Close to half of those 68 million Americans wagered online, with a bookie, or with a sportsbook.
Close to half is a huge proportion of American adults. This large figure reflects primarily a numerical increase in recent first-time bettors. Just over 21 million bet with friends.
All of this isn’t to say that bracket contests have ceased being popular. There are just more betting options available with which people like to enjoy March Madness.
75% of online bettors last year said that they were betting for the first time online on March Madness. This percentage reflects the newness of online sports betting. Online bookmakers have to establish themselves as sources of excitement for viewers. As the numbers show, people are gladly buying in to what sportsbooks have to offer.
Increasing Availability
People are betting more on March Madness partly because they are betting more in general. Since 2022, legal online and retail sports betting has opened to people in Massachusetts, Kansas, and Ohio. Mobile sports betting also opened in Maryland. With more people legally able to place wagers, more people are taking advantage of this opportunity.
It’s only natural, given the viewing and betting interest that this event draws, that a substantial number of new bettors in such states choose to wager on March Madness. People are already interested in March Madness and they are already acquainted with how the NCAA Tournament works, how teams qualify for and advance in it.
What they need to know to become interested in wagering on sports is how sports betting works and sports betting is increasingly something that people can understand how to get into.
One Shining Moment 🙌#NationalChampionship pic.twitter.com/19UtEKEq7C
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) April 4, 2023
Going Forward
With a tremendous increase in the amount wagered in this year’s Super Bowl and the fact that March Madness last year exceeded last year’s Super Bowl in terms of amount wagered, we can only guess how much more gets wagered on this year’s March Madness.
The continued expansion of legal sports betting is continuing to aid the growth of the number of bettors, but this isn’t just blindly the case.
People see a lot of what is out there in the sports betting world, such as the fact that sports betting apps are so user-friendly, which is one fact that makes it really easy to have and enjoy the fun sports betting experience.
