AGA releases March Madness research
One in five Americans will wager around $8.5 billion on NCAA tournament
Yesterday morning the American Gaming Association released new March Madness research, finding that 47 million people – roughly one in five Americans – will wager $8.5 billion on this year’s NCAA basketball tournament.
To put this level of engagement in perspective, more than twice as many people will bet on March Madness than the Super Bowl, wagering 40% more than they did on the NFL championship game.
AGA research shows that more than 40 million people will fill out 149 million brackets this year, wagering $4.6 billion on the results. Outside of traditional bracket pools, 18 million Americans plan to bet a collective $3.9 billion at sportsbooks, online, with a bookie or with a friend.
Less than a quarter of this will be bet at a casino sportsbook or via legal betting app. 2.4 million Americans will bet illegally with a bookie and another 5.2 million will bet online, largely on illegal offshore sites – further indication of the persistence of the illegal market.
“During this year’s tournament – the first in post-PASPA America – sports fans are expected to bet 40% more than they did on this year’s Super Bowl,” said Bill Miller, AGA’s president and chief executive officer. “Unlike any other sporting event in the country, March Madness attracts millions who fill out brackets, make casual bets with friends or wager at a legal sportsbook, which Americans can now do more than ever before.”
Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in May 2018, more than $5.9 billion has been wagered in the now-eight states with legal, regulated sports betting, enabling consumer protections and generating valuable tax revenue for state, local and tribal governments across the country.
AGA has long focused its efforts on eradicating the illegal market and bringing the benefits of legal, regulated sports betting to the large portion of American adults who want to engage – and clearly are engaging in – sports betting.
With the proliferation of legal sports wagering around the country, AGA is making progress against that goal but as these results indicate, there is still work to do.
