Our basketball betting expert uncovers all the ways you can bet on March Madness brackets to make real money, including sportsbook ad fantasy bracket pools and a wide variety of futures wagers.
More on March Madness Bracket Betting
- Why Bet on the March Madness Bracket
- Ways to bet on the March Madness Bracket
- March Madness Bracket Betting Tips
- March Madness Bracket Betting FAQs
Why bet on the March Madness bracket
March Madness is one of the most exciting sports betting events of the year and sees high-quality sports action last for almost a whole month. There’s no denying that there are plenty of reasons to get involved betting on the bracket.
Bracket Betting can be profitable
One of the best reasons to bet is the profit that could be made. Online sports betting is easy to do, and quick to process, and can lead to big returns. NCAA March Madness is one of the best sports betting events to get involved in. With games taking place every day for a month, there’s so much action to get involved in.
This means that there are more odds to consider. With the odds are more bets, and more bets mean more chances of winning. More and more people are getting ready to bet or already cast their bets this March Madness as teams are sprouting up for the win.
The likelihood is you’ve also probably already picked your bracket for fun, whether that may be with friends or family so why not try and win some money while you’re at it.
Betting on March Madness 2025?
- Read our How to Bet on March Madness guide
- Get bonus bets and promos from the best March Madness betting sites
- Download The Post’s blank and complete NCAA brackets
- Check out the latest March Madness winner odds
Every Game Matters
The biggest benefit of bracket bets is they suddenly make every single game important to you. Unless you have an interest in one of the schools competing, the game between two schools you’ve never heard of might not be important to you.
With bracket bets though, this game is just as important as the rest during the first round. If you’re someone who is looking for action and enjoyment, this covers every single game of the tournament with one bet.
A Month of Fun
Not only does every game become important for only one bet, but you also get to enjoy games that matter to you for the entire month of March. If your bracket does well, the excitement goes up as the month moves into the later rounds.
Even if you’re a serious bettor looking to make a profit, you can’t deny that these bets are some of the most fun ones you will make all year.
Ways to bet on March Madness Brackets
Sportsbook bracket competitions
Many of the best online betting sites will have free-to-enter bracket challenges, meaning if you predict a perfect bracket, or come close, you’ll be in with a chance of winning big.
Sportsbooks will also offer brackets that you can pay to enter, with typically higher overall prizes than their Fantasy pool equivalents.
Often prizes are rewarded in tiers for those who come the closest to landing a perfect bracket, as the odds of correctly predicting every outcome is incredibly unlikely.
The chances of hitting a perfect bracket are supposedly one in 9.2 quintillions. In case you were wondering, one quintillion is one billion billion. However, if you know a little bit about college basketball, these odds become 1 in 1.2 billion.
As big as the odds are, there’s no excuse not to get involved, and give it a shot at landing a huge payout.
Fantasy sports bracket pools
Daily Fantasy Sports will run their own bracket competitions for March Madness, and also allow you to create your own leagues, where you can invite friends, family, and coworkers.
In the case of the bracket competitions run by fantasy sports sites, players pay an entry fee and then compete to get the most points out of the group. Online bracket pools are usually very big with all different buy-in sizes.
You might have a bracket pool online with the same $20 buy-in, but it might have 1000 people in it. That means the total prize pool is $20,000 and first place is probably getting somewhere around $5,000 with the top 10% of finishers getting some sort of payout. The higher buy-in bracket pools are also available if you are really confident in your bracket.
A private group amongst friends is usually a lot smaller with smaller payouts for the winner. You might have 15-20 people paying $10 or $20 to play, with the winner taking the whole pot.
Both choices are great ways to get involved in March Madness. The fun and gratification of getting one over your friends is great in private leagues and can give you some great content for group chats.
March Madness Futures
Futures bets are another exciting way of betting on the March Madness Bracket. As the term suggests, you are placing this bet for a larger period of time before the outcome will be settled.
Bettors are able to wager on the following:
- Team to make the Sweet 16
- Team to make the Elite Eight
- Team to make the Final Four
- To win the National Championship
The biggest futures market would be betting on which team will win the National Championship, with these odds available months in advance. Futures bets can also be placed throughout the course of March Madness the odds are always adjusting to outcomes, injuries, and betting action during the tournament.
An example of a March Madness Future bet would look like this:
| Team | Odds to reach Final Four |
| Houston | +140 |
| Alabama | +190 |
| Purdue | +250 |
| UCLA | +300 |
| Kansas | +350 |
March Madness Bracket Betting Tips
Do your research
If you have all of the time in the world, then spend all of the time in the world on each game to make the best prediction possible. If you don’t have all the time in the world, you need to be strategic about where you spend your time.
Focus on the first-round games with teams that you think are going to go deeper in the tournament. As each pick piggybacks off the earlier round, it’s important to get as many teams that will be going deep in the tournament through. Some of these will be fairly easy to pick like the 1 seed vs. 16 seed games, but some like the 8 vs. 9 games will be a bit more challenging and require a bit more time.
The main point here is not to spend all your time on games that might not have as much of an impact later in the tournament.
Use odds, not seeds
A lot of people that don’t have a lot of time to make their picks will do so based on the seeding. The problem with this is that there are some specific rules that will move the seeds around a bit having better teams a little lower than they should be.
The seeding is also done by the NCAA in order to balance out teams from different conferences and locations. Online sportsbooks, on the other hand, will set lines based on who they think are going to win the game and by how many points.
This can help you to spot ‘upsets’ that aren’t really upsets. You can find teams with worse seeds that are actually favorites against the teams they’re playing. While this isn’t an actual upset, it will be one on the bracket sheet, and a lot of amateur players are going to miss it.
It can also show you good spots to pick potential upsets. If you see a game with an extremely close line where a team is supposed to only win by a point or two, you may be looking at a potential upset candidate.
Back the better defense
The eyes of America will be on every college team, meaning crowds and TV audiences want to see plenty of points and this means that they will bet on the exciting teams who promise to score plenty of points.
This means that there may be more value to be found on the teams that play with a packed defense. There is also a lot to be said for the fact that if you don’t lose points, you don’t lose games. Many professional tipsters will back the under in the early rounds, as teams play more cautiously, and do not want to lose. The offense wins games, defense wins championships.
Be wary of upsets
Many people would make their bracket choices based on seedings. Most think that the best team or higher seeded team is always going to win, backing the favorite each time. We see time and time again that this is just not the case with college basketball, but in all sports betting.
A good tip would be to include some upsets in your picks, as there is almost a guarantee each year that upsets will occur. Remember, a No.8 seed losing to a No.10 is still an upset.
However, might it always be fun to root and hope for the underdog to pull off the upset, but you don’t want to get too crazy with the upsets. Remember, teams, are usually seeded higher for a reason. It’s because they are supposed to win.
Over the years we have seen some crazy things happen, so nothing is out of the question. The best advice is to look at each game individually and pick the team that you really think is going to win.
Bracket Betting FAQs
What is a March Madness Bracket?
A March Madness bracket is the grid of all the teams in the tournament and the path they have to follow to the Final Four and the Championship game. Filling out a bracket with the winners of every game is an incredibly difficult task, with no one yet to successfully fill out a perfect bracket.
What is Bracket Betting?
Bracket betting is when you bet on individual games that are listed in a bracket. Your bets are then compared to actual results to determine your payout. March Madness is one of the most popular events for bettors to fill out brackets and place bets.
Can you bet on March Madness?
March Madness is one of the most popular college basketball events that people bet on, as well as being one of the biggest sports betting events in the USA. Without a doubt, the most popular form of bracket betting out there, with new teams bringing new excitement every year.
Where is the best place to bet on March Madness brackets?
There are many great online sportsbooks out there that allow you to fill out bracket bets for the March Madness tournament. The best online sportsbooks in the USA will offer some form of March Madness bracket betting. Find out about the best online betting sites in the USA.
Is bracket betting profitable?
College basketball bracket betting can be very profitable if done correctly. Doing some research and taking time to analyze each matchup, will help to ensure you have the best chance possible of winning your bets