How Future Odds Can Help With March Madness Bets

Using teams’ future odds can help when making Final Four bets or trying to find the right upset to target.

What is a futures bet? Quite simply: A futures bet is exactly what it sounds like - a bet on an outcome in the future.

These bets are usually placed on a series, an award or major championship. They can be made on March Madness, the Super Bowl, the NBA MVP or the AL Pennant winner.

Why place a futures bet? Because the potential payouts are tremendous. Generally, the further in the future the event occurs, the better odds you will get for your wager.

Bet on any underdog during the men's NCAA tournament and get $10 in free bets on SI Sportsbook

Bet NCAA Tournament Future Odds at SI Sportsbook

For example: If you bet the Rams to win Super Bowl LVI in July of 2021, you earned 15 times your money (+1500 odds). A $100 investment from July earned you $1,500 profit ($1,600 total) in February. Not too shabby for Rams backers!

Futures bets are a fun way to bet on your favorite team, player, or even gut feeling.

And that applies to March Madness!

Love Texas Tech? Why not bet on the Raiders at SI Sportsbook to make the Final Four at +500 odds. March Madness is a great time to put in some futures bets, especially if you place the bets before the field starts dwindling since teams’ odds will change.

Futures can also help with your brackets!

SI Sportsbook has Gonzaga at -138 to make the Final Four, while Wisconsin owns +1000 odds. You can assume it’s pretty likely the top-seeded Gonzaga will make it to the Final Four, while third-seeded Wisconsin is more of a long shot. The bigger the payout, the less likely the sportsbook thinks it will occur.

Another thing to look out for: rather than strictly looking at seeding, check the odds set by the sportsbook. For example: Providence is a top-four seed in this year’s NCAA tournament, but Vegas has them at +1500 to win it all. 

You may want to consider fading the No. 4 team in the Midwest Region and perhaps even consider No. 13 South Dakota State in their first-round matchup.

What Vegas thinks can give you an edge if you don’t know where to start.

A futures bet requires minimal investment and you can make a maximum return. You can set it and forget it. Just remember: No bet is guaranteed, and Vegas is offering generous payouts for a reason. Lots of well-planned futures don’t cash.

Bet NCAA Tournament Future Odds at SI Sportsbook

But if you know how to use future odds when making your bracket or placing bets, it can help you find potential upsets that could provide some extra profits.

Check the Latest Odds at SI Sportsbook

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