The NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament is about to get underway, which means a lot of you will be filling out brackets and placing bets on who will win it all. In fact, the number of people betting on the tournament is in the millions.
“Forty-seven million American adults are going to place some form of wager on the tournament, that’s almost one-in-five American adults, explained Dave Forman, the Senior Director of Research with the American Gaming Association.
Forman explained to KTRH why the number is so big.
“Last year’s repeal of the ruling that limited sports betting to Nevada has helped. In less than a year there are now eight states where you can bet legally,” Forman said.
Forman says as of now, almost 30% of gamblers are picking Duke to have 'One Shining Moment' at the Final Four.
“Almost a third of the people who say they are going bet on the tournament are picking Duke. There’s a pretty wide gap between Duke and Gonzaga. Only about 10% think Gonzaga is going to pull it out,” Forman told KTRH News.
The other teams getting support in the research are North Carolina, Kentucky, Virginia and Michigan. The Houston Cougars and Red Raiders of Texas Tech got under 5% support.