I'd Wager that A Lot of Money Was Bet on March Madness

February 29, 2008 7:49 AM

Sports Betting Filter: How can I determine approximately how much money was bet on the NCAA (men's basketball) tournament last year and where that ranks on the most gambled-upon sporting events of the year?

I'm doing an article on the NCAA tournament and one of the angles I want to use is the amount of time and money people devote to it.

posted by sjuhawk31 to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (5 answers total)

Are you talking only legalized Vegas betting, or are you talking about all betting, including office pools?
posted by pdb at 8:06 AM on February 29, 2008

Response by poster: Legalized Vegas betting is fine. Any stat, really.
posted by sjuhawk31 at 8:15 AM on February 29, 2008

Best answer: Quick and dirty figure ($85M) from 2006 from a Las Vegas Review Journal article reprinted here. Other RJ articles take gaming stats from this firm.
posted by zepheria at 11:50 AM on February 29, 2008

Best answer: From a two-year-old article:

According to the FBI, several million Americans illegally will bet an estimated $2.4 billion on the annual NCAA Division I basketball tournament, more commonly known as "March Madness" this month (Harrop, 2006). Las Vegas’ casinos are expected to make about $90 million from March Madness this year (Harrop, 2006). Wagering on the basketball tournament, which will reach approximately $4 billion dollars, also includes online betting, small-stakes betting among friends, and office pools.
posted by lukemeister at 9:43 AM on March 1, 2008

Here are last year's numbers from the Nevada Gaming Control Board via the Las Vegas Sun.
posted by zepheria at 9:44 AM on March 10, 2008