The American Gaming Association (AGA) revealed that it expects 68 million Americans will wager $15.5bn during March Madness, which starts Tuesday.
68 million participants translates to one million people for every team competing in the tournament and is 18 million more than the number of people that bet on Super Bowl LVII.
21.5 million will make wagers with their friends
According to research conducted by Morning Consult on behalf of the AGA, 31 million Americans will place bets with an online or retail sportsbook or bookie, and 21.5 million will make wagers with their friends. Another massive part of March Madness is bracket pools, and according to the AGA, 56.3 million college basketball fans will partake in that endeavor.
AGA CEO and president, Brad Miller, credited the positive estimates to the spread of legal sports betting.
“Critically, the expansion of regulated sports betting over the past five years has brought safeguards to more than half of American adults who can now bet legally in their home market,” Miller said.
Massachusetts just launched its online sports betting market last Friday to couple its retail setting that opened on January 31. Ohio and Kansas legalized sports betting, while Maryland expanded to online sports betting since the conclusion of 2022 March Madness. Las Vegas will also host games in the West Region for the first time.