How to bet on ncaa basketball tournament

2022 March Madness Odds - How and Where to Bet Online

March Madness is in the books for 2022. The NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament lived up to expectations and then some with plenty of surprises and upsets along the way. In the end, it was Kansas with a thrilling come from behind win over North Carolina to take the title.

As one of the biggest sporting events of the year, it’s never too early to look ahead to the next edition, what might happen, and how to wager on the action. Here are the latest March Madness odds along with information on where you can legally and safely bet on this year’s tournament.

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Contents

• Current March Madness odds
• 2022 tournament favorites
• Legal sports betting states

• Where to bet on March Madness
• 2022 dates and time
• How online sports betting works

2022 March Madness odds

No matter how you want to bet on March Madness, the live odds feed below is a great tool to lean on. The tournament brings in plenty of betting action, which translates into constant movement on the odds board. We pull together the latest real-time numbers from top legal sportsbooks across the industry. You can see how it works below.

March Madness Futures Odds 2023: Familiar Names At The Top of the Board

As we look ahead to March Madness 2023, the top of the futures odds board is filled with familiar names. Here’s a look at the current top 10 as of this writing.

A lot can happen between now and Selection Sunday, but futures odds still give us a chance to look ahead and forecast the clubs that could be n the running. All of the Final Four teams from 2022 – Duke, North Carolina, Kansas, and Villanova – are in the current top 10, but we’ll have to wait and see if any can make a return trip.

Odds table was last updated on April 5, 2022. March Madness odds provided by TheLines.

Where and how to bet on March Madness

You can bet on March Madness at DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, PointsBet or BetRivers. All you need to do is live in a legal betting state and download the sportsbook app. From there, create a new sportsbook account, enter your personal details and claim the March Madness promo. From there, you’ll be ready to bet on the Big Dance.

1. DraftKings Sportsbook

DraftKings’ slick platform with lots of bells and whistles has been a hit with users. College basketball bettors will find an intuitive platform that makes it easy to browse potential wagers.  DraftKings Sportsbook is available in the following states: AZ, CO, CT, IL, IN, IA, KS, LA, MI, NH, NJ, NY, PA, TN, VA, WV & WY

DraftKings March Madness Promo: Bet $5+ on CBB pre-game moneyline and win $200 in free bets if your team wins

2. FanDuel Sportsbook

The FanDuel platform is clean and easy to use while still having lots of features packed in. During March Madness, building multi-leg wagers is simple, with offerings like same-game parlays just a click away. The FanDuel app is available in the following states: AZ, CO, CT, IL, IN, IA, KS, LA, MI, NJ, NY, PA, TN, VA, WV & WY

Fanduel March Madness Promo: Bet $5, get $150 in site credits regardless if your bet wins or loses

3. BetMGM Sportsbook

The famous MGM name has helped this sportsbook gain attention, but users find there’s more to see. This includes competitive odds and lines for all available college basketball games, as well as a variety of bets as the tournament plays out.  BetMGM Sports is available in the following states: AZ, CO, DC, IL, IN, IA, KS, LA, MI, MS, NJ, NV, NY, PA, TN, VA, WV & WY

BetMGM March Madness Promo: Bet $10, win $200 if any team hits a 3-pointer

4. PointsBet Sportsbook

PointsBet was an unknown quantity on our shores prior to entering the US market in 2019. That’s no longer the case. It has become a popular destination for bettors in several states. Careful attention to lines and the intriguing PointsBetting feature have helped it stand out. PointsBet Sportsbook is available in the following states: CO, IL, IN, IA, KS, LA, MI, NJ, NY, PA, VA & WV.

PointsBet March Madness Promo: Up to $2,000 risk-free bets promos, plus an extra $100 in free bets

5. BetRivers Sportsbook

BetRivers offers a solid platform that looks appealing and is easy to use. The company also features a solid rewards program that lets you earn points for placing wagers.  BetRivers app is available in the following states: AZ, CO, IL, IN, IA, LA, MI, NJ, NY, PA, VA & WV.

Yes. In the below jurisdictions, you’ll find a combination of online, mobile and retail betting options, but not all three are available in each spot. For example, there are no brick-and-mortar shops for legal betting in Tennessee and Virginia.

A few other states have legalized in-person betting for now but have yet to pass online and mobile betting legislation.

• Arkansas
• Mississippi
• Montana
• New Mexico

There are a number of other states that are working through legislation, and others that at least have their sights set on doing the same. The number of legal states has risen dramatically in a short period of time. Moving forward, the list will likely continue to grow with each passing year.

Rules and regulations for March Madness betting

States can set their own rules for sports betting. That means there’s not complete uniformity in the legal states. All states have prohibitions in place to prevent those with close ties to a sport from wagering on it. Some states, however, have set the legal sports betting age at 18 while most have it at 21.

Which states have rules around college betting?

Rules for wagering on college sports is one area with notable differences. There are no major restrictions in place in Indiana, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, but many other states do have restrictions.

• Colorado: No prop bets on college games.
• Illinois: Betting on in-state college teams only in-person.
• Iowa: No prop bets on individual college athletes.
• New Hampshire: No prop bets on in-state college teams.
• New Jersey: No betting on in-state college teams or on any college games taking place in the state.
• Oregon: Wagering on college sports is only available in person.
• Rhode Island: No betting on in-state college teams or on any college games taking place in the state.
• Tennessee: No live betting on college games.
• Virginia: No betting on in-state college teams. No live betting or props on college sports.
• Washington, DC: No betting on any college games taking place in the district.

Beyond the actual state regulations, all legal sportsbooks have their own house rules in place. The rules cover what bettors need to know about the settlement and placement of bets, as well as things that can impact the proceedings. For March Madness and college hoops, here are a few points of note.

• If the tournament is canceled, sportsbooks will void and refund all futures bets.
• Pregame bets are live once the game tips off. They’ll remain action in the event of a slight delay, but a complete postponement or cancellation would lead to voids. Changes to previously announced locations will not impact wagers.
• Settlement of all wagers is based on official data and statistics. The sportsbook will not entertain disputes on results that you disagree with, such as an outcome related to a specific officiating call.

You’ll want to have a full understanding of the rules in your state, and the same holds true for the legal sportsbooks where you choose to play. The majority of the top sites have dedicated sections for house rules, while others may include information in the help or FAQ sections.

How March Madness betting works

You can bet on the winner of March Madness nearly year-round thanks to the futures market. Additional options include betting on teams to make the Elite Eight or Final Four.

For now, let’s focus on how you can bet on each individual game as the tournament plays out. From the First Four to the national title tilt, there are 67 games spread across three weeks. The average listing will look something like this:

If you look next to the two team names, the default listing features the odds and lines for three main bets: the moneyline, point spread and total. The negative odds indicate the favorite, while positive numbers point out the underdog. In our example, Gonzaga is favored on the moneyline and a five-point favorite on the spread in a game with a projected total of 160 points.

Spreads and totals have the number set by oddsmakers, in this case 5 and 160 points, followed by the actual odds for the wager, which are -110 across the board for our example. Here are the basics for all three wagers.

• Moneyline: Pick the side you think will be the winner.
• Point spread: Choose the favorite minus the spread or the underdog plus the spread.
• Totals: Bet whether the total score will be over or under the sportsbook’s line.

Live betting on March Madness

Also known as in-game betting, live betting affords the chance to hedge your initial position if a game breaks differently than you were expecting, or you can just wager on a standalone basis. Offerings will vary but may include the following:

• Updated odds and lines on standard pregame bets.
• Winners and totals for the first or second half.
• Various prop-type scenarios.

If you like staying = engaged as a game plays out, then live betting could be an area to explore. For those who prefer to place their wagers and then relax and enjoy the game, this style of betting might not be for you.

March Madness prop betting

Prop betting is another popular item on the wagering menu. These are bets that involve things that might or might not happen during a contest or at its conclusion. As mentioned earlier, individual states might have restrictions in place for college props, so be sure to review the rules in your area. Here are some examples of props you might see:

• Alternative spreads and totals.
• Ranges of points for margin of victory.
• Team performance by half or for the game as a whole.

Props on college athletes aren’t available everywhere, so the options can be scant in comparison to what you would find for an NBA game. When checking the game listings at online sportsbooks, you can find the available props by clicking on the individual contests.

How the March Madness futures market works

Odds for the winner of the next national championship will come out soon after the tournament is over. The board typically appears in descending order with favorites on top. The odds for a few favorites might look like this:

• Villanova +700
• Gonzaga +800
• UCLA +1000
• Michigan +1200

After the initial release, bets will begin coming in. The numbers will move in response to betting action. The teams that see a lot of interest can see their odds shorten, while the opposite can happen for squads that don’t attract as much attention. This will continue throughout the season as the betting market develops.

Winning futures bets can result in large returns. For example, a $100 winning bet on UCLA at odds of +1000 would result in a profit of $1,000. You can make one or multiple wagers on who will win, but remember that the bets require a long-term view as the sportsbook won’t settle them until the result is final.

Beyond the team to win it all, there will be other futures bets you can place on March Madness. Some will come out early, while others won’t appear until the bracket is finalized. As always, it’s wise to shop around for prices and markets. Depending on the sportsbook, you might find better odds for the bets you want to place.

March Madness brackets

In the world of sports, one of the biggest highlights of the early part of the year is the official unveiling of the March Madness bracket. The NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee sets the field. Thirty-six teams receive automatic bids for winning their conferences, while 32 spots go to at-large schools for a total of 68 teams.

When setting the field, the committee will consider the overall record, the strength of schedule, and various other performance metrics and stats. Determining which teams qualify is only part of the job. The committee also seeds the teams and sets the matchups. The bracket will have four regions: East, South, Midwest, and West.

Each region will have 16 teams, seeded from 1-16. The committee sets 60 seeds prior to release, while the final spots go to the winners of the First Four games. The tournament is single elimination. Here’s how that translates into games for each round.

• First Four: Four games
• First round: 32 games
• Second round: 16 games
• Sweet Sixteen: Eight games
• Elite Eight: Four games
• Final Four: Two games
• National championship: One game

All told, it’s 67 games from start to finish. The committee does the heavy lifting in advance of the tournament, and there is inevitably a good amount of debate about which teams were snubbed for selection.

The odds of picking a perfect bracket correctly are 1 in 9.223 quintillion, according to the NCAA.

When is the 2023 NCAA Basketball Tournament?

The 2023 edition of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament is scheduled to begin on March 14 and wrap up on April 3. In between, it’ll be three weeks of action. Here are the key dates.

• Selection Sunday: March 12
• First Four: March 14-15
• First and second rounds: March 16-19
• Regionals: March 23-26
• Final Four: April 1
• National championship: April 3

NRG Stadium in Houston is the host for the next Final Four and title game. CBS and Turner Sports will be the broadcast home for the tournament, with games on CBS, TNT, TBS, and truTV, as well as on their digital platforms.

Which teams have performed the best at March Madness?

Each college basketball season is a separate event. That said, some programs have fantastic overall track records at March Madness. Here are the five clubs that have played the most games in the annual tournament:

• Kentucky: 131-54 in 185 games
• North Carolina: 126-47 in 173 games
• Kansas: 108-47 in 155 games
• Duke: 115-39 in 154 games
• UCLA: 106-42 in 148 games

The same five teams also top the charts in a number of other categories surrounding March Madness:

• Tournament appearances: Kentucky, 57
• Consecutive tournaments: Kansas, 32 from 1990-present
• Most Final Four appearances: North Carolina, 21
• Most NCAA championships: UCLA, 11, last in 1995

While the past is no guarantee of future success, there’s a good chance that the programs that have lengthy March Madness resumes will continue adding lines as we move forward. Kentucky, Duke, and North Carolina have all won titles over the past decade, while Kansas is the defending champion.

How To Bet On March Madness: 2022 NCAA Tournament Betting

Learning how to bet on March Madness is easy if you’re provided with the proper betting tools. March Madness is the craziest time of year for sports bettors. It’s like the Super Bowl but instead of one big game to bet on, you have 68 Division 1 men’s college teams in the field waiting to make their mark on the NCAA basketball landscape.

With play-in games from the First Four, to the Sweet 16, the Elite Eight and the championship game, March Madness offers a chance for you to become the betting expert we know you can be. We provide an online betting guide with all the March Madness betting tips and March Madness betting strategy. That way you have everything you need after Selection Sunday so you can learn how to gamble on March Madness like a pro from the first-round games to the final.

How To Read March Madness Odds

When exploring the best ways to bet on March Madness, it’s important to understand how to read the odds. When you check out any March Madness betting site, you’ll see college basketball odds displayed like this:

• North Carolina -233
• Kentucky +195

We use American odds but you can choose Fractional (1/5) or Decimal (1.20) if you prefer. Bettors in the U.K. are more likely to use fractions, people in Europe and Australia generally use decimals, and those in North America use the betting odds type that shares their name.

How To Bet On March Madness Guide: Favorites Vs Underdogs

The odds displayed above are for a traditional moneyline bet. To make this type of bet, you simply have to pick a team to win straight up (SU). At -233, the Tar Heels are the favorite, and you can tell this by the minus sign (-). At +195, the Wildcats are the underdog.

You can see this because of the plus sign (+). This is universal across all sportsbooks. Dogs will always have pluses and faves will always have minuses.

If you decide to pick UNC and bet $100 on them, you’d get a payout of $142. 92 – your original money comes back along with your winnings of $42.92. Conversely, that same $100 on Kentucky as an upset would give you $295 – your $100 is returned, coupled with your prize of $195.

Our odds calculator will show you what you’d win based on the offered odds and the amount you bet. You don’t have to bet $100. You have free rein to wager whatever your bankroll can handle.

Wagering On March Madness Games: Betting Options

We’ve already covered the moneyline and how to read odds at March Madness betting sites, so now let’s look at some of the other best ways to place bets on March Madness, as well as popular NCAA Tournament bets you can make. Because there are seven rounds and 68 teams, you have ample opportunity to win some coin if you know how to bet the NCAA Tournament. 

Point Spread: Choosing A Team To Cover

Unlike a straight-up bet where you are picking one team to win over the other, the point spread allows you to wager on how much a squad will win or lose by. Before the matchup, the underdog is given an advantage and the favorite a disadvantage to create a more even betting field. Spread odds would look like this:

• Villanova -9.5
• Marquette +9.5

To cover the spread, the Wildcats would need to win by 10 points or more. For the Golden Eagles to cover, they would need to win the game outright or lose by nine points or less.

Totals: Combined Score Betting

Basketball games, whether they’re at the NBA or collegiate level, are high-scoring affairs. Totals betting, aka OVER/UNDER, gives you the chance to bet on the combined score of the game. When teams play each other, you’re looking at collective scores in the range of over 100 points. Odds would look something like so:

UCLA vs St. Bonaventure

• OVER 120
• UNDER 120

Your job as a bettor is to determine if the pooled score will be more or less than the oddsmaker’s set number of 120. If you think it will be more than 120, you would take the OVER. If you believe it will be less, you would take the UNDER.

Futures: Who Will Win It All?

Futures bets are wagers that can be made weeks or even months in advance of the event you’re gambling on. In this case, you would make a bet on which school will win the NCAA national championship. Tournament odds for this type of college hoops bet would be like this:

• Duke +500
• Stanford +650
• Kansas +800
• Xavier +1000
• Indiana +1300
• UTEP +1850
• Michigan State +2000
• TCU +2900
• Purdue +3750
• UMass +5000

At the online sportsbook, you would see a list of every NCAA men’s Division 1 team with their national title odds. For the purpose of this example, we’ll only look at 10 schools.

In this scenario, oddsmakers are predicting the Blue Devils (+500) to make a deep run and take the basketball tournament by storm. UMass (+5000), on the other hand, is looking like they don’t stand a chance. When oddsmakers set the college basketball lines, they look at everything from how a team performed the previous year to offseason moves (players graduating, coaching changes). If a school played poorly in the past, you can count on their odds to be high.

The odds will shift as games are played. If you see futures odds that look good, grab them. Taking a team as a plus-money underdog (+) before they become a big minus-money favorite (-) could net you a huge profit if you win your bet.

Parlays: Bundling Your Bets

Parlays are multiple bets on one slip. For instance, you could take Gonzaga SU, Virginia ATS, and the OVER for Syracuse vs Marquette. Moreover, you can add bets from other sports to your March Madness betting games slip like an NHL puckline or a soccer wager like the Asian handicap.

Our parlay calculator will show you how much you’d win based on the odds, number of bets on your ticket and the amount wagered.

Props: Keeping Your Bets Entertaining

Short for “proposition,” props are bets you make on the occurrence or non-occurrence of specific player and team milestones that may not directly correlate with the outcome of the game. These are bets like:

• • How many minutes will Player A play?
• • Will the game go into overtime (OT)?
• • How many assists will Player B have?
• • Player C vs Player D: Who will score more points?
• • Which team will make the most three-point field goals?

Live Betting On March Madness

Watching March Madness games is even more fun if you bet on them while they’re unfolding. Live betting lets you bet while the game is taking place. Live betting odds are released before every quarter starts and let you capitalize on new spreads, moneylines and totals.

There are also live odds for props. If you see live betting action you like, take it quickly. Live odds disappear as soon as they appear.

What’s The Difference Between Filling Out A Bracket And Making A Prop Bet?

Although they may seem similar, March Madness brackets contests and prop bets are not related. A Madness bracket is a grid-type contest where you would try to accurately predict the results of each March Madness game from the first round to the championship. As we mentioned above, propositions are special bets on players and teams and don’t necessarily affect the results of the game.

March Madness Basketball Betting Tips

• The chances of filling out a perfect bracket are 1 in 9.2 quintillion, but that doesn’t mean you can’t win some coin in other ways by making smart bets with sound NCAA Tournament betting strategy.
• Look at a team’s road and neutral-site records both SU and ATS (against the spread). A school can be a monster during the regular season, but if they racked up most of their success because of their dominance at home, they could be overvalued in the NCAA Tournament.
• Of the pairings, focus on the No. 5 seed vs the No. 12 seed matchups. For whatever reason, around a third of the No. 12 seeds have won their opening NCAA Tournament games against No. 5s, making them good bets ATS at the same time. Usually, at least one 12 seed will win outright, and these schools often have up to 10 points with which to work on the spread.
• Lower seeds at No. 10, No. 11, No. 12 and even at No. 13 can be solid wagers ATS as underdogs, especially if they’re champions from mid-major conference tournaments. These schools are champs for a reason, and the gap between conferences is smaller than ever since the tournament operates on a one-game, winner-take-all format at a neutral site.
• For additional betting tools to help you handicap your tournament bets, check out our Consensus, Betting Trends, Standings, Stats, Rankings and Team Reports pages. We also have free college basketball picks if you have “betting block.” It’s like writer’s block but for online sports betting.

How To Bet March Madness

Now that we’ve provided you with some NCAA Tournament betting tips and you know how to bet on March Madness, go sign up at a sportsbook and get to betting on the Big Dance. Those college basketball bets aren’t going to win themselves!

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NCAA Basketball League Betting Features

The second most popular basketball league in the US is the NCAA. This is a tournament of student teams with its own characteristic features that radically distinguish it from the NBA. Consider the features of betting on the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) basketball league in bookmakers.

NCAA Basic Rules

First things to know:

• A match consists of two halves of 20 minutes;
• teams have 30 seconds to attack;
• 10 seconds are given to transfer the ball from one's own half to another's.

The NCAA championship is divided into three different divisions according to status. The best universities are collected in the first, respectively, less successful - in the third. On the sweepstakes, they regularly offer to bet on the confrontation in the first division, less often in the second, you are unlikely to find quotes for the third.

American student championship games are quite unpredictable. The reason is that the youth championship. Teams lack stability in the rhythm of the game due to the fact that basketball players are at the stage of formation of their work ethic. Here, outcomes for large odds are played much more often than in the NBA. The reason is that bookmakers are not always able to give correct quotes due to various circumstances, especially if the championship has just started.

The statistics in this case are not particularly revealing, since after the end of the last season, many young stars went to the NBA draft. The composition has changed dramatically and it is difficult to predict exactly what to expect from the guys who have recently entered the university. Therefore, it is best to bet on the NCAA online, when you can visually assess what is happening on the site.

As in any basketball competition, in the National Collegiate Athletic Association league, first of all, you should pay attention to the total. It is often distributed unevenly - the first half is less productive than the second. And the difference is pretty big. Bookmakers give an average of five points more in the second half than in the first. This is due to the fact that at the end of the match the teams try harder, give their best to achieve the desired result.

Bet on the NCAA league

It's also interesting how teams perform on the floor. If there is a clear favorite, for which quotes are around 1.30, basically, at the beginning of the game, he gives a result that allows you to play in economy mode. In such a situation, it makes sense to bet on total less than in the second half, since the teams in it will simply serve the number. Well, in case of an equal fight, the total will be measured.

If the teams made a lot of three-pointers in the first five minutes and the total went up, there is an option to check this trend in the future. You can bet on total over in the first half, and then look at the situation. In case of a big gap, most likely, the second half of the teams will dry up, and if the fight is equal, the total will be higher, as the basketball players will gnaw out the victory. If in the first game segment the leader defeated the outsider by 15-20 points, it makes sense to bet on the underdog with a handicap, since the leader in such cases slows down and allows the opponent to catch up in numbers on the scoreboard.

Factors affecting NCAA match results

1. Home court play is a big advantage.

In the NCAA, some fans care for their clubs even more than in the NBA. For example, the kind of support that Duke fans give their players would be the envy of many professional clubs. The schedule of matches in the student league is drawn up in such a way that teams play series - away and home.

During the period of games at home, teams almost always strengthen their positions in the standings. And the three-point handicap laid down on the host by bookmakers is often biasedly small. It makes sense to take it when the notorious leader of the championship does not come to visit.

2. Pre-match mentality is paramount.

In the away series, when basketball players can cover the west and east coasts in a week, you should not expect them to fire in the eyes (of course, if there is no special tournament motivation). Even mature NBA players don't benefit from traveling, let alone young talents. Team coaching staffs can deliberately let the leaders rest in deliberately losing matches on the road, so that they shoot to the fullest in games at home with direct competitors.

3. In mid-February, you should pay attention to outsiders.

They can be roughly divided into two types - dull bottom and biting bullies. Both the former and the latter no longer formally claim to participate in the March Madness, but if the former have resigned themselves to their fate and dream about the next season with tears in their eyes, the latter, based on personal motivation, are ready to fight to the end.

The role of the coach in the NCAA is much more important than in the NBA. And everything depends on how he slanders his wards. Expect surprises at the end of winter, when the leaders are slowly preparing for the playoffs, and the guys from lower ranked clubs are trying to shine brighter on the eve of the NBA draft.

4. Personal relationships are of great importance in students' games.

While professionals are generally comfortable with personal grudges, trash talk and dirty play, young guys can hold grudges. And the revenge factor plays a role. The desire to take revenge, without tournament goals, purely out of youthful enthusiasm, can also manifest itself. The teams meet twice in a season, and if there is a meeting of teams with character, the victory of the club that lost the first time is more likely.

NCAA features

1. Differences in odds between offices. Different bookmakers are able to show inconsistent opinions in quotes based on their own analytics. Even options with forks are quite likely. You should carefully study the lines and find inconsistencies that help reduce risks.
2. Information. She is not enough. Insider sources are very important to playing in the NCAA.
3. Instability of players due to their age.

Summary

NCAA is an exciting and highly emotional competition, but quite difficult to predict. To get the data you are looking for, sometimes you need to spend whole days on the net. However, if the necessary analytics are on hand, there is every chance to hit the jackpot, since the college basketball league, like no other, is beneficial for betting on sensations.

March Madness odds

The NCAA Basketball Tournament features the best college basketball teams from across the United States. The result of such a tournament is very difficult to predict, so it will be incredibly interesting to watch the game. What is guessing the winners of the March Madness Tournament Bracket? What is the probability of perfectly predicting the results of all matches? Is there a way to predict the winners of the March Madness bracket? Read on to find out the answer to this question.

March Madness Bracket Guessing is a way to bet on the NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament. The bettors try to correctly predict which team will win each match.

Unbelievable but true: even Warren Buffett holds his famous competition for guessing the winners of the tournament bracket.

Best NCAA Basketball Tournament Odds

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If every match in the tournament were a 50/50 coin toss, then the probability of correctly predicting the outcome of all matches would be 2 ⁶³ , or one in 9. 22 quintillion.

Of course, the results of each game cannot be compared with the results of a coin toss with a probability of 50/50. Many games feature a very strong favorite, increasing the chance of a perfect prediction of all March Madness matches.

If the top contender had won every game of the 2018 March Madness tournament, then bettors could increase their odds of winning to one in 199,207,883 by simply picking a favorite for each match.

• Read: how to bet on basketball

Unfortunately, when calculating the odds immediately before the game, information is taken into account that those who guess the results of all tournament matches do not have access to. As a result, the favorite of a particular match may change after the selection of the alleged winners. The betting margin for each game is also not taken into account, which makes this number incredibly idealistic.

More precisely, in the case of odds prior to March Madness 2018, the odds of guessing the results of all tournament matches according to the bookmaker’s odds was one in 1,844,155,546,199,950, or one in 1. 84 quadrillion.

This is, of course, about the inaccurate probability, and the examples are just for fun. But the probability of these events was and is higher than the probability of a specific person guessing the results of all matches of the tournament in 2018.

Nine trillion times more likely : San Marino's Nuremberg victory over then world football champion Germany.

368 billion times more likely : Leicester win the 2016 Premier League title from a position of 5001.00.

6.31 million times more likely : Winning a billion dollars in the Powerball lottery.

Likely 72,000 times : lightning strikes the same person every day for 10 years.

Likely 607 times : Two friends randomly pick the same tree from all trees growing on the planet.

1.84 times more likely : selection of a certain ant in an anthill in which all the ants of the world live.

For comparison: if the probability of winning all the favorites in each match of the tournament in 2018 (approximately 199 million to one) is converted into seconds, then the time period would be 6.32 years.

Probability of actual results converted to 58,477,789years.

The picture of probabilities for the 2018 tournament is complicated by a legendary win: Team UMBC (16th seed ^{) defeated University of Virginia (1st seed). This is the first win in tournament history that a low-ranked seed has defeated a high-ranked seed.}

UMBC University's victory actually affected the entire tournament bracket after the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Still, victory for such a team may have been belated. Team UMBC emerged victorious with Pinnacle odds for March Madness of 21. 28 (4.7% implied probability).

Given that there are four of these matches every tournament and that there were 34 tournaments with 64 teams, it's surprising that UMBC was the first winner with this odd.

Assuming that UMBC vs. the University of Virginia was a standard first round matchup between the 16th seed and the 1st seed, and taking into account the probability of the University of Virginia winning the game, the probability of the 16th seed winning the first round in 2018 is 14.78%.

Is it just a deviation? Or perhaps there is an underdog/favourite bias in determining odds for the NCAA Tournament?

While guessing the outcome of all March Madness matches is fun, simply placing bets on the outcome of individual games is more financially rewarding.

The possibility of winning $1,000,000 is impressive. However, in 2018, a $1 cumulative bet would turn into $1.84 quadrillion if you did the impossible and guessed the outcome of every match.

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