ATLANTIC CITY, NJ – Fewer Americans plan to fill out hooks for this year’s NCAA college basketball tournament, but the total number of people betting on March Madness should stay around the same as the last time the tournament was held, according to the industry’s national gambling trade association.
The American Gaming Association released figures Sunday estimating that more than 47 million Americans plan to bet – legally or otherwise – on March Madness this year. That’s around the same number who said they planned to bet on the 2019 tournament.
The competition was postponed in 2020 shortly before it was expected to start just as the World Health Organization spotted the coronavirus.
The virus will also affect this year’s competition: The main reason, according to the study, is that 36.7 million Americans have filled a bracket, down 8% from 2019, as many other offices and workplaces remain closed, with workers work from home, or not at all.
But the slab is expected to be almost entirely made up by the continued rapid expansion of legal sports betting in the U.S. The association says 30.6 million Americans will bet in other ways on this year’s tournament, up from 17.8 million in 2019.
These include bets placed by casinos, racetracks, online betting apps and illegal book buyers, or by a friend.
The study found that 17.8 million people will place online bets, up 206% from 5.8 million in 2019. And 8.3 million will place bets at a physical sports book, up 79% from 2019.
“The sports betting landscape has changed dramatically since 2019, and as a result, competition betting has changed,” said AGA President and CEO Bill Miller. “With former users of bracket competitions now having access to legal sportsbook options, they also plan to place a traditional sports bet as March Madness returns. ”
The study was conducted on behalf of the AGA by Morning Consult between March 3-5 among a national sample of 2,200 adults. An error margin of plus or minus is 2 percentage points.
“I think it’s going to be very promising,” said Joe Asher, CEO of William Hill USA. “Just look at what is promised up as a general issue, and add that to the fact that we didn’t have it last year. Of course there is a lot of pent-up demand. In many ways it is a sign that America is returning. Beyond the sporting promise, it flows into the whole story of COVID. ”
William Hill is active in 16 states as well as Washington, DC, up from just five states in 2019.
Johnny Avello, head of racing and sports book for DraftKings, said the three – week tournament traditionally draws more betting action than Super Bowl pro football, a one – day event.
He told DraftKings DKNG,
“Seeing a lot of action” on teams that spies choose to win the entire tournament, as well as the Final Four teams, and the players to win the wooden prize for both men’s and women’s college basketball players separately.
“We expect a full turnover of full activity on this year’s competition,” Avello said. “The handling of college basketball has gone up a lot this year, and I don’t expect any delays, not now when we are at the start of one of the biggest sporting events of the year. While the setting and arrangement are going to be different from previous years, I can usually gauge the interest from the conference contests. I am not deceived by what I have seen so far. “
New Jersey had hoped to bring back the betting ban placed on New Jersey college teams in time for this year’s tournament. But a bill that would do so fell so heavily in the state Legislature last year.
The AGA study found that Gonzaga was the most popular public winner of the competition (17%), followed by Florida State (11%) and Baylor (8%).