College Basketball Betting 2022

The college basketball betting favorites to win March Madness 2023 – and only programs with odds 10-to-1-or-better – are the Gonzaga, North Carolina and Kentucky.

When it comes to NCAA basketball betting, learning how to wager on the spread is easy.

In this example, the UCLA Bruins are 4.5-point favorites, while the Kansas Jayhawks are 4.5-point underdogs. In order for this point spread bet to win, the Bruins must win by 5-or-more points OR if your college basketball betting slip backs the Jayhawks, Kansas must lose by 4-or-fewer points or win the game outright. In other words, the minus symbol means you subtract that amount from the team’s final score while the plus symbol means you add that amount to that team’s final score.

Organizing a March Madness betting pool has become a beloved annual tradition, both for families and offices alike. According to data compiled by the American Gaming Association (AGA), over 24 million people filled out more than 70 million brackets ahead of last year’s NCAA Tournament. Of course, that hardly means more than one-fifth of the nation committed a criminal act – not in the slightest.

Joseph M. Kelly, a professor of business law at Buffalo State College, offered the following advice via Law360 in March of 2016: “I would say that the chance of prosecution would be the same as being struck by lightning. If it is just an office pool, where the winner takes all, in theory, you are violating the law in about half the states, but in practice, you are not going to be prosecuted. I just can’t imagine a prosecutor taking time to go after a casual player.” To learn more about the law across the states, see our guide to legal online gambling in the USA.

There are plenty of ways to bet on NCAA basketball, the first thing a new sports bettor needs is to find the best online sportsbook and get an account set up. The next step is to explore the betting options available. When betting on regular-season basketball, the most common bets are spreads, moneylines, and totals. These bets can are available for full games and first or second half bets. Most online sportsbooks accept forms of Bitcoin, Visa, Mastercard, and other major credit cards and e-wallets.

According to the AGA, the 2018 March Madness generated over $10 billion in total wagers nationwide.That figure covers everything from casual office pools to targeted one-game wagers through an online sportsbook. This represents 6.6 percent of the combined sum Americans bet on sports every year. What are the odds of picking a perfect March Madness bracket sheet? Since 2014, billionaire investment guru Warren Buffet has issued a challenge that seems too good to be true.

Anybody who can predict all 63 games in the NCAA Tournament will receive $1 million every year for the rest of their life. That challenge remains unfulfilled through five years and counting though. Thanks in large part to the astronomical odds against nailing a spotless bracket. Picking all 63 games requires perfect accuracy on a one-on-one matchup 63 times over, or 2^63 in math geek lingo. All told, that equation equates to odds of 1 in over 9.2 quintillions. Making a perfect bracket exactly one trillion times less likely than getting struck by lightning twice in a lifetime. Jonathan Mattingly – a professor of mathematics at Duke University – developed a formula based on the overwhelming likelihood of the No. 1 seeds defeating their No. 16-seed opening round opponents.

But even when these long-shots are factored in, along with other superior seeds facing underdogs, Mattingly calculated improved odds of 1 in 2.4 trillion. And if a Blue Devil’s digits aren’t up to snuff in your book, DePaul University mathematician Jay Bergen calculated the odds at one in 128 billion. But whomever you consider gospel when betting NCAA basketball, backing one side with a single bet through your favorite online sportsbook is the best way to beat the odds.

Up until May 14, 2018, the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) of 1992 prohibited bookmakers from conducting sports wagering business in every state except for Nevada. Thankfully, the United States Supreme Court took a second look at the PASPA, before striking the federal ban down as an unconstitutional violation of states’ rights in a 6-3 decision. But even as these states scramble to get in on the sports betting gold rush, college basketball enthusiasts who enjoy filling out their March Madness bracket have nothing to worry about. Despite recent rumblings, after the Department of Justice (DOJ) clarified its position regarding online gambling, individual bettors are in luck. Federal law might be murky when it comes to operating online sportsbooks, but patronizing these businesses remains legal. To date, not a single bettor has ever been pursued by the DOJ, nor any local or state law enforcement agencies. Taking bets can be a risky business, no doubt about it, but online college basketball betting come tournament time has always been completely above board.