How To Bet On March Madness 2021

The Super Bowl might be the showiest sports betting event in the US, but nothing matches the sheer mayhem and betting action of March Madness. The NCAA Men’s Division I basketball tournament stretches almost three weeks from mid-March to early April and is, in the hearts of many, the pinnacle of the US sports betting calendar.

There’s something for everyone — sports fan, sports bettor or otherwise — during March Madness. From picking your alma mater or your favorite mascot’s school to go all the way in a bracket pool, to the challenge of selecting individual games, parlays or a long-shot futures bet, March Madness has as many ways to bet on it as it does to make your pulse skip.

The American Gaming Association estimates that over 50 million Americans will bet over $10 billion combined on March Madness 2021 – with a bigger and bigger share at legal US online sportsbooks every year. Here’s everything you need to know to be one of them. Jump to the best March Madness bracket contests here. Get the best March Madness odds boost and promos here.

2021 March Madness Bracket, Odds & Game Lines

Online sportsbooks take futures bets on college basketball teams throughout the season and into the NCAA Tournament, right up until the Final Four. Just like moneyline bets, winners are paid based on the odds posted at the sportsbook at the time you make the bet. Odds can fluctuate heavily as a team’s chances of winning change. Remember that Las Vegas March Madness odds are usually the same or similar to odds at online sportsbooks throughout the US.

Futures represent the best way to bet on March Madness before the tournament tips off. Check below the bracket for current futures odds at US online sportsbooks for teams to win the 2021 National Championship or make the Final Four. Use the drop-down menu to toggle between odds boards and legal states.

You’ll see the consensus odds for each game in the bracket below. Check below the bracket for current live game odds across several US sportsbooks. Click on the odds there to go directly to the sportsbook, claim your bonus and start making your March Madness bets!

Related articles: Best Ways to Bet $50 on March Madness

How to download a sports betting app

Start with our links above to claim your free bets and get started.

• Once you’re on the landing page, you’ll find a “Claim Free Bets” button.
• Click the button to begin registering your account online.
• It’ll ask you to register a new account name and enter some minimal personal info (email, DoB, phone number, home address).
• Once your account is registered (and your information is verified), you can click to download the app.

Once the app is downloaded, simply tap to select your method and deposit funds. Your free bets will immediately be credited to your account upon deposit (or upon account registration, if no deposit req.)

How March Madness betting works

Moneylines

There are no points involved in moneyline bets. When it comes to March Madness betting, you pick the outright winner of any NCAA Tournament game, and if you’re right, you get paid based on the odds posted at the sportsbook at the time you made the bet.

The odds on the favorite in each game are a negative (-) number representing how much you’ll need to bet to win $100. The odds on the underdog are a positive (+) number representing how much you’ll win for every $100 you bet.

Point spreads

Betting the spread in a college basketball game is just like betting the point spread in a football game. Sportsbooks will set a line for each NCAA Tournament game, and you take either the favorite by laying the points or the underdog and receive them. You just need to pick the winner with the posted line factored in to cash in on your bet.

Totals (Over/Under)

You can also bet on any NCAA tournament game’s points total if picking a side isn’t necessarily your thing. The sportsbooks will set a line on the total number of points it expects both teams will combine to score.

You simply pick whether the actual total will land over or under that line. Instead of worrying about which team is winning, the only concern you have for an over-under bet is the number of points scored in the game.

Parlays

A more complex bet is a parlay, which consists of at least two separate wagers strung together. To win a parlay bet, one must win every part, or leg, of the parlay. If you have a parlay with five legs and four results win and one loses, the bet loses the same as if you went 0-5.

Parlays pay better than individually placed bets because to win a parlay, you must win every part, or leg, of that parlay. Parlays represent a great opportunity to bet small with a chance of winning big.

Essential March Madness betting tips

1. Follow the Money

When looking at how to bet the tourney games, it’s important to follow the money. The opening lines are released for the Thursday/Friday games on Sunday night.

Pay attention and take note of any significant line moves leading up to the game. Again, books will adjust the lines based on liability to a certain side, and line moves that are > 1.5 points or more are significant.

2. Watch second-round lines

Also, pay attention to the second-round lines. With games on Thursday, there is a quick turnaround for the teams to play on Saturday. The same applies to sports books. They don’t always “nail it” in terms of the second-round lines; again, pay special attention to all the line moves.

3. Roll your futures wins over

A word about the “futures” market. If you like a team to win it all, place the bet and hope for the best. But another approach is to bet that school in each game and roll over the winnings into each round.

A $10 futures bet on the Gonzaga Bulldogs at 10-1 will pay $100 if they cut down the nets in April. However, that same $10 bet in the opening round game will pay ~$19 if they win and cover their opening round game.

You can see that rolling the wins over each round will yield a much greater return over the course of the tournament. It’s something to consider.

March Madness prop betting

In the early stages of the tournament, you can expect to see such March Madness prop bets as:

• How many No. 1 seeds will make the Final 4?
• How many No. 12 seeds will advance to the Final 4?
• Which conference will win the most tournament games?
• Which conference will be the home of the national champion?

March Madness bracket pools

March Madness bracket pools or contests are the traditional way most Americans bet on the NCAA Tournament. This involves filling out a 63-game NCAA Tournament bracket sheet prior to the start of the tournament and paying a small sum to enter it into a pool at the office, local bar or social club.

Big online bracket pools run by ESPN and Yahoo, among others, have soared in popularity over the past decade or so and now that legal online sports betting has entered the picture, online sportsbooks run massive bracket pools as well.

These can be either free or paid-entry and can pay out six-figures+ to the winner.

How to fill out a March Madness bracket

Bracket pools are a fun and easy way to follow along with March Madness. A “bracket” is the 68-team form that can be completed online or printed out and completed by hand. These are easily accessible once the field has been chosen and seeded on “Selection Sunday,” which is March 14 this year.

The bracket needs to be completed in its entirety before the Thursday games begin at 11 a.m. ET. The object of the bracket is to predict the most winning outcomes throughout the tournament through to the national champion.

Essentially, each bracket is compared to others in the pool, and the one with the most winners picked correctly (or most points earned) wins the contest.

Best paid-entry March Madness bracket contests

There are two types of March Madness bracket contests:

• Free to enter
• Paid buy-in to enter

Paid entry bracket pools are typically low buy-in (i.e. $10 or $20) and, with enough entries in the pool, there is a prize large enough to inspire some friendly ribbing or trash talking. Both DraftKings and FanDuel typically offer paid March Madness bracket contests. Confirmed paid March Madness bracket contests at DraftKings in 2021 include:

DraftKings $2m Millionaire Bracket

• Buy-in: $100
• Max. entries per player: 20
• Total prize pool: $2,000,000
• Winner Share: $1,000,000
• Runner-Up: $250,000
• Third: $125,000
• Open to players in: NJ, PA, CO, TN, WV, NH

Total players paid out is 1,500 with a minimum payout of $150. See full contest details and enter via link below:

• Claim your $50 free bet and play DraftKings Millionaire Bracket here

Free March Madness Bracket Contests

Free bracket contests are run by virtually anyone these days, from media brands to promotional groups to restaurants (we see you, Buffalo Wild Wings) to actual sportsbooks. Free bracket pools are always fun. In addition to the “free” nature of the contest, there are typically some great prizes for the winning brackets from real cash (and sometimes lots of it) to perhaps a trip to next year’s Final Four.

The drawback of the free contests is, of course, the sheer volume of entries. The ESPN bracket challenge in 2019 boasted almost 12 million entries. Because everyone typically knows the same tips for picking March Madness brackets (see below), and the tournament itself is also so unpredictable, your actual chances of winning a free bracket contest are, well, slim to none.

Many of the free bracket sites will also allow someone to register as the “commissioner” to organize a private pool. Once everyone is registered, the host site (i.e. ESPN or CBS) takes over with up-to-the-minute standings as well as scoring projections for the remainder of the tournament. Notable free bracket pools announced for 2021 include:

$1M DraftKings Survivor Pool

Survivor Pools are a little different from your average March Madness bracket contest. Rather than pick the winner of every game in advance, you pick just one team to win each day. If that team wins, you’re on to the next round. If your team loses, you’re out.

The next day, you have to pick a new team to win. Survive to the end of the tournament and you’ll get a piece of $1 million! You can only pick a team once. Run out of teams to pick and you’re out, too.

Note: This contest is free to enter and available in all states but only open to new accounts! Learn more and sign up for an account to play via the links below:

• Claim your $50 free bet and play DraftKings March Madness Challenges here

5 simple March Madness bracket tips

Whether you are filling out a bracket for the 50th year or for the first time, there are some tried and true March Madness facts and tips to consider:

1. Upsets can, do and will happen. Picking all No. 1 and No. 2 seeds to advance to the Elite Eight is an unimaginative approach to the bracket. Expect some chaos and plan accordingly.

2. Look to history for some guidance. Since the NCAA Tournament field was expanded to 64 schools in 1985, here’s a summary of the opening round matchup results:

• No. 16 has defeated No. 1: 1 time
• No. 15 has defeated No. 2: 8 times
• No. 14 has defeated No. 3: 21 times
• No. 13 has defeated No. 4: 27 times
• No. 12 has defeated No. 5: 50 times

The Nos. 12, 13 and 14 seeds are matchups you should pay special attention to because a 12, 13 or 14 will win at least two to three games, as suggested by history. You just need to select the right matchups.

3. Know the tough conferences and the hot hands. The major college conferences (i.e. ACC, Big Ten, Big 12) will send multiple teams to the tourney. Don’t overlook a school just because it finished in the middle of the regular season conference standings. The challenging schedule may have prepared it well for the battles of March.

Also, look at which school is riding a hot (or cold) streak into March Madness. A team that had to win its conference tournament by beating four opponents over four consecutive days may just carry that energy and momentum into upsetting a higher-seeded opponent in the opening round.

4. “Perfect” regions happen about one-third of the time. Keep this in mind when you fill out a bracket with your prediction of region seeds 1, 2, 3 and 4 all merrily advancing to the Sweet 16. You should consider some upsets in the opening rounds as an upstart No. 6 or No. 7 seed can really separate your bracket from the others. There are definitely ways to avoid busting your March Madness bracket too early.

5. Don’t be shy about picking your alma mater, but back it up. If you’re lucky to have your alma mater qualify for the Big Dance, congratulations!! Don’t spend hours agonizing as to how your school may fare in the bracket process; instead, play two bracket entries: one with your “heart” as a proud alumnus of a national champion and the other with your “head” that is the realistic view of your school’s chances.

March Madness 2021 schedule & where to live stream

Note: For COVID-19 safety measures, the NCAA has decided that all games for the 2021 tournament will be played in Indianapolis, IN and surrounding areas.

NCAA Tournament schedule: The 2021 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament runs from March 16 (First Round) to April 5 (Championship Game). Here’s a look at the complete March Madness schedule:

Network: CBS

Network streaming: CBS All Access, CBSSports.com, and CBS Sports app via phone, tablet and connected TV devices (Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV and Chromecast)

Streaming services (varies by market): DirecTV Now, Fubo TV, Hulu with Live TV, PlayStation Vue, YouTube TV

How to Bet March Madness online from New York City

If you live outside but close to a legal sports betting state (e.g. NYC), you can still download the app from your home and manage everything you need to with your account. You can research, make deposits, withdraw funds, etc.

You only need to travel across the border into New Jersey to make your actual bets. Once you’ve claimed any winnings, you can take them out in your home state.

Register a new betting from New York via the links below to get started:

• Claim your $50 free bet at DraftKings
• Claim your risk-free bet at FanDuel

How much is bet on March Madness each year?

Think betting on March Madness isn’t a big deal? According to a study released by the American Gaming Association:

• 1 in 5 adults will place bets on the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
• 40 million (16 percent) of people will fill out a bracket.

Collectively, American adults are expected to bet close to $10 billion on the annual college basketball tournament. The AGA study also found:

• 4.1 million will bet at a casino sportsbook or using a legal app.
• $4.6 billion will be wagered on a collective 149 million brackets by more than 40 million people.
• 2.4 million people will bet illegally with a bookie.
• 5.2 million will bet online, likely at illegal offshore sites.

March Madness Betting Projections

Biggest March Madness Upsets

March Madness is one of the greatest sporting events on the planet. The combination of a single-elimination format, the potential for upsets in March Madness, the potential for buzzer-beaters, and the highest of stakes mean that drama can strike during any game and any matchup. But as all March Madness bettors know, an upset that doesn’t work in their favor can be a money pit nightmare.

So, ahead of listing the five biggest upsets in the history of the basketball tournament, what truly makes an epic upset?

What makes a historic March Madness upset?

The essential aspect of any upset is the unexpected. So, the list below doesn’t only include cases of lower-seed teams defeating higher seeds.

Seeding the tournament is an imperfect practice. A 25-win, mid-major team might receive a lower seed than a big conference team with a worse record due to the mid-major team’s lower strength of schedule.

The problem with this approach to seeding is that strength of schedule does not necessarily diminish a team’s abilities. So, sometimes a lower seed’s victory is not an upset, but merely a reflection of a truly good team seeded too low.

Instead, upsets occur when both teams’ histories would suggest a different outcome. In some cases, the entire history of the tournament suggested that the other team would win.

Each of these five games has its section and description. However, for those who are in a hurry, here’s a quick list of them:

• UMBC over UVA: 2018
• Richmond over Syracuse: 1991
• Villanova over Georgetown: 1985
• NC State over UH: 1983
• Duke over UNLV: 1991

UMBC defeats UVA: 2018

It would be difficult to argue that this game is not the greatest upset in the history of the tournament. In 2018, the 16-seeded University of Maryland, Baltimore County made history by winning its opening game against the top-seeded University of Virginia.

In 136 contests between No. 1 and No. 16 seeds, the 16-seed has won precisely once — this time. Before the Terriers won, 1-over-16 was the surest of bets in all of sports.

Perhaps the most striking aspect of UMBC’s historic victory is the final margin. Far from a buzzer-beater, the Terriers ran the Cavaliers off the court, winning 74-54.

UMBC went on to lose its next game, a nine-point defeat at the hands of Kansas State. However, the school can rest comfortably in the knowledge that its place in history is forever secure.

Richmond beats Syracuse: 1991

Before UMBC, the highest seeds ever to win an NCAA Tournament game were 15 seeds. So far, a No. 15-seeded team has won its opening match eight times. None of those victories was more shocking than the University of Richmond‘s escape from the Syracuse Orangemen.

Richmond’s win gets the nod as the most significant because of its status as a trailblazer. Much like UMBC, the Spiders had to contend with the knowledge that no team had ever accomplished the task of defeating a No. 2-seeded team in the first round.

The game itself looks more like the kind of game that would yield a huge upset. Syracuse came out flat, and Richmond took an eight-point lead into halftime.

From there, Richmond slowed the game’s pace down and clung desperately to its lead. In the end, the plan worked, and the Spiders sneaked into history with a 73-69 win.

Villanova beats Georgetown: 1985

In more recent times, a Villanova win over Georgetown would barely make the news. However, back in 1985, the Wildcats’ two-point victory over the Hoyas was the embodiment of the impossible.

Villanova defeated Georgetown 66-64 after a grueling two halves of play. In doing so, the Wildcats became the only No. 8 seed ever to win the national championship.

What made the ’Cats’ run so much more improbable was that the team caught fire seemingly out of nowhere. Villanova limped into the tournament with 10 losses on its record, including a 15-point meltdown against St. John’s directly before the tournament.

The Georgetown team Villanova defeated had been the prohibitive favorite most of the season. All five of its starters went on to play in the NBA, including all-time great center Patrick Ewing.

But, in the end, it was the Pennsylvania team that had its date with destiny.

NC State beats UH: 1983

Two years before Villanova’s miracle run, North Carolina State University played out a similar drama with the University of Houston. If anything, the manner in which NC State prevailed has stayed with the American sports conscience far longer.

To recap, the No. 6 seed Wolfpack were locked in a tight battle with the top-ranked UH Cougars. The Cougars boasted a high-flying lineup that featured two future NBA Hall-of-Famers (Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon), which had allowed the team to earn the nickname “Phi Slama Jama,” in reference to its aerial prowess.

However, the game came down to a 44-second stretch in which the teams were locked in a tie, and NC State allowed time to dwindle into the single-digits. With about six seconds remaining, NC State’s Dereck Whittenburg launched a long shot from nearly the half-court line, but his shot missed the goal entirely.

NC State’s Lorenzo Charles stayed alert, though, and rose up to put the ball back on a quick slam dunk. The score put NC State up by two with no time remaining and secured the school’s second (and most recent) championship.

Duke beats UNLV: 1991

As is the case with Villanova, a deep March Madness run is not a surprise for Duke University. However, there was a time when Duke was merely a perennial also-ran.

That narrative changed in 1991 when Duke captured its first title in school history. To do so, the team had to defeat one of the all-time great teams in the national semifinals.

The University of Nevada-Las Vegas entered the 1991 tournament as the defending national champions and one of the rare undefeated teams. Its five starters each went on to have NBA careers, and the team’s towel-biting coach, Jerry Tarkanian, was one of the best-ever to roam the sidelines.

So, the Runnin’ Rebels had plenty of confidence and swagger entering the tournament. The Final Four matchup with Duke likely didn’t cause much concern, since UNLV had defeated the same team by 30 points in the national championship game the year before.

However, some key additions to the Duke squad meant that the Blue Devils could hang with the champs. Two key free throws by Christian Laettner with 12.7 seconds remaining sealed the most improbable of victories, and handed UNLV its only loss of the entire season.