Betting on March Madness
How to Bet on March Madness
Are you ready for the craziest month on the sports calendar? Before putting money on your favorite upset pick or your top team to cut down the nets, here are the different ways to bet on the NCAA tournament at Fanatics Sportsbook.
How to Bet March Madness Spreads
One of the most popular college basketball bets is the spread, with it serving as a handicap that evens the playing field between two teams.
Let’s say Team A is clearly better than its upcoming March Madness opponent Team B and is an 11-point favorite. If you bet Team A -11, you would need Team A to win by 12 or more points to cash your bet. If you bet Team B +11, you would need Team B to either lose by fewer than 11 points or win the game outright. If you bet on either team and Team A wins by exactly 11 points, that’s called a push and you would get your original bet stake returned.
How to Bet March Madness Moneylines
How about just picking the winner of a March Madness game? Are you feeling a major upset? Here’s where the moneyline comes into play.
Your payout for this wager depends on how big of a favorite or underdog the team is that you’re wagering on. Let’s again say Team A is clearly better than its upcoming opponent Team B. Team A is listed as -400 on the moneyline while Team B is priced at +350. At -400, you would need to bet $400 to win $100 (or $24 to win $6, $88 to win $22 or any other equivalent). At +350, if you were to bet $100, you would win $350.
So if you were to bet $50 on Team A’s moneyline and Team A won, you would receive a total payout of $62.50 ($50 original stake plus $12.50 winnings). If you were to bet $50 on Team B’s moneyline and Team B won, you would receive a total payout of $225 ($50 original stake plus $175 winnings).
How to Bet March Madness Totals
If you want to focus on the amount of scoring in a March Madness contest, check out the total. You can either wager on the over or under of a game’s total, which is why this market is also often referred to as the over/under. Let’s say you bet the over on a total of 155, and Team A beats Team B 92-70. Since 92 plus 70 equals 162, your bet has cashed since the 162 points went over the total of 155. On the flip side, if you bet under 155 and Team A wins 70-63 (or 133 combined points), your under bet has cashed. Now if the score ended up being 80-75, that means 155 pushed and you would get your original stake back.
How to Bet March Madness Parlays
With a parlay, you can bet on multiple outcomes to happen in March Madness and it could lead to a bigger payout. You can bet on all four favorites to all win in the Elite Eight or a couple of underdogs to pull off the upset in the Round of 64. Since a parlay needs several things to occur, the odds go up as does the potential payout. Every leg needs to hit, however, in order for the parlay to cash. Even if you bet on 10 teams to win and nine end up doing so but one doesn’t, the parlay loses.
How to Bet March Madness In-Play
The betting window isn’t closed when the game kicks off—far from it! Now with in-play betting, you can bet on spreads, moneylines, totals, player props and more all throughout the game. Let’s say Team A was a 9-point favorite before the opening tip but is now down 38-21 to Team B as the game nears halftime. Now facing the big deficit, you can back Team A as an underdog using in-play betting instead of needing a win by 10 or more points if you would have taken Team A’s spread pregame.
How to Bet March Madness Futures
A college basketball futures bet is when you bet on something that takes place in the future or will be determined later on compared to the current slate.
Let’s say you like a team’s path after the March Madness bracket is revealed and you see its odds are +10000 (or 100/1) to win it all. You can bet on a college basketball national championship future and get a major payout if that team goes on to take home the title.