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Sports Betting 101: How to Bet March Madness
March Madness is one of the busiest and most exciting times of the year for sports bettors. Sixty-eight college basketball teams compete for the National Championship across three weeks, with dramatic upsets and adrenaline-pumping finishes along the way. The electrifying and often unpredictable road to the Final Four is what has earned this season the moniker of madness.
So, how can you get in on the action?
Get the latest NCAA odds, spreads and more at SI Sportsbook
Betting on any single game
There are multiple ways to bet March Madness, the simplest being moneyline, points spread, and game-total bets on any single game.
A moneyline (ML) bet is a bet for a team to win outright or straight up (SU). Favorites are indicated by a (-) sign, while a (+) sign indicates underdogs.
A points spread bet, or betting against the spread (ATS), is a bet on whether a team will win with the handicap provided by the sportsbook. If a team is +3, you can add three points to their score at the end of the game to determine if they are the winner. Conversely, if a team is -3, they have to win by more than three points to win to cover this ATS bet.
PRINTABLE 2022 MARCH MADNESS BRACKET
A points total bet or over/under (O/U) is simply a bet on whether or not the points total in the game will exceed or fall short of the line Vegas has set. These bets are a 50/50 proposition.
Each type of bet will also be listed with its payout. Besides indicating a favorite, the minus sign indicates your profit will be less than your original investment, while a plus sign indicates more profit. For example, if you bet on an underdog with +130 odds to win and they do, you will receive 130% of your original investment. For a $100 bet, you will profit $130, bringing your total payout to $230. Conversely, if you bet on a favorite to win at -130 odds, you would need to invest $130 to profit $100 should they win. Your total payout would be $230.
In this example, the person betting on the favorite has more to lose ($130) and less to win ($100). This is why sometimes the risk outweighs the reward when betting on a favorite. Always remember no bet is a guaranteed proposition.
For a more in-depth description of these three types of bets, please visit our sports betting 101 primer.
How to bet a March Madness bracket
Brackets are a popular way to bet, and anyone at all can win a bracket challenge. Remember, this is March MADNESS! You can expect the unexpected. Let’s break down how a bracket works.
A March Madness bracket starts with 64 teams. Bettors will pick a winner from each of 63 games and get points for each correct pick along the way.
But, wait! So, you don’t know anything about college basketball? That’s OK. There are plenty of hints to help you make smart decisions along the way.
SEEDING: Next to each matchup, you will see each team’s seeding. A seed is quite simply a team’s ranking. The 64 teams in the bracket are split into four regions of 16 teams. Each region is ranked 1 through 16; the 1 seed is the most favored, through to the 16 seed, which is the least favored. In addition, to reward the top teams, first-round matchups pair the #1 seed with the #16 seed, the #2 seed with the #15 seed, and so on. So, as you can see, the number one seed is always at a big advantage. A number one seed has only lost in the first round once in the tournament’s history - when UMBC upset UVA in 2018.
As each round progresses, you will get more points for picking the teams who advance. Games in the second round are worth twice as much as games in the first round, and so on. There are a total of seven rounds, with the penultimate round being the Final Four.
Picking the Final Four is a popular way to bet, not just with brackets but also at a sportsbook. You can bet on teams to make it to the Final Four at a sportsbook, this is called a futures bet, and you can also use that sportsbook as a cheat sheet to help you fill out your bracket! Remember above when we discussed how a (-) sign indicates the favorite, while a (+) indicates the underdog? If the sportsbook has Gonzaga at -120 to make the Final Four while Texas Tech is at +500, you can assume it’s pretty likely Gonzaga will make it to the Final Four, while Texas Tech is more of a long-shot. What Vegas thinks can give you an edge if you don’t know where to start.
Another way to use the sportsbooks as a cheat sheet for your bracket involves points spread bets. If you see a spread of more than five points between competing teams in a given matchup, history tells us to bet on the favorite. If there is less than a five-point spread, and the favored team hasn’t won much in their last ten games, it could be a good time to bet on the underdog. This can help you make some decisions when filling out the first round of your bracket.
The most important thing to remember in betting March Madness is that it’s called madness for a reason. No one will fill out a perfect bracket; in fact, the odds to fill out a perfect bracket are about 1 in 9,223,372,036,854,775,808, that’s 9.22 quintillion. So, don’t think about being perfect! Just have some fun, root for some underdogs, and enjoy the madness!
Place your March Madness bets at SI Sportsbook
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Jennifer Piacenti is a fantasy sports and betting analyst for Sports Illustrated. She serves as a host for Sirius XM Fantasy Sports Radio and has her own podcast, “Waiver Wired,” on the Extra Points podcast network. Piacenti is also a featured expert on MLB Network’s “Bettor’s Eye” and is a member of the esteemed Tout Wars, the fantasy baseball battle of the experts. She is a member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association and is a 2020 Scott Fish Bowl finalist.