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

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

sjuhawk31 — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 07:49:38 -0800

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.

By: pdb

pdb — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 08:06:23 -0800

Are you talking only legalized Vegas betting, or are you talking about all betting, including office pools?

By: sjuhawk31

sjuhawk31 — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 08:15:32 -0800

Legalized Vegas betting is fine. Any stat, really.

By: zepheria

zepheria — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 11:50:13 -0800

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.

By: lukemeister

lukemeister — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 09:43:54 -0800

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.

By: zepheria

zepheria — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 09:44:30 -0800

Here are last year's numbers from the Nevada Gaming Control Board via the Las Vegas Sun.