US to host estimated $1billion basketball tournament

Added: March 16, 2021

The US will be hosting the largest sporting event in US history in terms of legal wagering, with a colossal $1 billion, that could potentially even go up to $1.5 billion. The event will be this year’s installment of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.

Despite that, there were still many concerns expressed related to the fact that interest in this event is still insure, as there is a lack of data from last year since it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many analysts are now saying that New Jersey will be the one to acquire approximately $300 million in betting, but Indiana is where the event will be hosted completely and will most likely also see impressive results.

Eric Ramsey from PlayUSA.com said:

“The 2021 NCAA Tournament will be the most widely bet-on sporting event in US history. The popularity of the NCAA Tournament combined with such a high number of games typically makes March Madness the largest sports betting holiday each year in terms of handle, and there is no reason to suspect that won’t be the case this year. But the number of legal sports betting markets has more than tripled since 2019 and we are still in the midst of a pandemic that could slow retail sportsbooks. Those reasons alone make this year difficult to predict.”

The bettors in Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Delaware, West Virginia and Mississippi were able to bring in about $440 million worth of bets, which is around 40% of the country’s entire handle in March.

There are currently around 20 states who provide legal sports betting in some way, as well as the US capital. Right now, there are about 86 million people who are able to bet completely legally in their own states, as opposed to 26 million who were able to do so back in 2019.

PlayUSA.com lead analyst Dustin Gouker also said:

“The Super Bowl draws the most bets for a single game, but March Madness and its 60+ games should more than double what the Super Bowl draws. But the dramatic expansion of legal markets, as well as the exponential growth within each market, means more people will have an opportunity to bet on the NCAA Tournament than ever before. And that will produce an eye-popping handle number that could reach $1.5 billion.”

NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, Sports Betting