How much money is bet on March Madness? The 2024 NCAA tournament is expected to generate billions.
CBSN
March Madness — the National Collegiate Athletics Association's (NCAA) college basketball tournament — kicked off this week, and Americans are betting big money on which school will be crowned champions in 2024.
U.S. bettors are expected to wager more than $2.72 billion on this year's men's and women's national tournaments using legalized sportsbooks, according to the American Gaming Association (AGA). That's about twice as much the amount of bets placed on the Super Bowl, according to the NCAA.
Why are Americans betting so much? There are three reasons, said Dave Forman, the association's vice president of research: more people are expected to bet on the women's tournament this year than in previous years, more states have legalized online sports wagering — allowing more bettors to join the fray, and more residents in states that already have legalized sports betting are placing bets.
