{"id":653,"date":"2026-03-16T14:03:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T15:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/?p=653"},"modified":"2026-03-25T13:28:04","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T13:28:04","slug":"trader-were-expecting-record-engagement-for-march-madness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/16\/trader-were-expecting-record-engagement-for-march-madness\/","title":{"rendered":"Trader: We\u2019re Expecting Record Engagement for March Madness"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li><strong>Fields set for start of March Madness single-elimination NCAA Division I basketball tournament this week<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><b>First Four play-in games start tomorrow<\/b><\/li>\n<li><b>Sportsbooks predicting\u00a0record engagement this time out<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p>It\u2019s been a long winter, a long wait, but for bettors, the March Madness Men\u2019s and Women\u2019s NCAA Basketball tournaments are now upon us, with sportsbook traders <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ncaa-betting-aga-americans-march-madness-betting\/\">expecting record engagement<\/a> this time out.<\/p>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_379571\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-379571\" data-style=\"width: 858px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-post-thumbnail-858xAUTO wp-image-379571 lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" alt=\"\" width=\"858\" height=\"572\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/2026-March-Madness-NCAA-858x572-1.jpg\"><figcaption>Mississippi Rebels and Xavier Musketeers players run by the logo at mid-court during the second round of the 2015 NCAA Men&#8217;s Basketball Tournament at Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena during the March Madness 2025 tournaments in Jacksonville, Florida. (Image: Mike Ehrmann\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n<h2>First Four Tomorrow<\/h2>\n<p>The men&#8217;s and women&#8217;s NCAA Tournament brackets are set &#8211; 68 teams, 67 games, for each bracket, a month of unscripted drama, maybe a Cinderella team or two, the one sports event of the year that drives massive betting volume because there&#8217;s never a dull moment. The American Gaming Association (AGA) is projecting that Americans will wager $3.3 billion across legal sportsbooks, with prediction market volume on top of that.<\/p>\n<p>Action gets going tomorrow with the men&#8217;s First Four (Texas versus NC State in the West, Miami (Ohio) versus SMU in the Midwest, UMBC versus Howard in the Midwest, Prairie View versus Lehigh in the South), and continues Wednesday when the women&#8217;s side gets started (Nebraska versus Richmond, Virginia versus Arizona St., Missouri St. versus SF Austin, Southern U. versus Samford).<\/p>\n<p>On the Men\u2019s side, at Caesars Sportsbook, the Duke Blue Devils (+295) open as the favorites to cut down the nets April 6 in Indianapolis, followed by Michigan (+350), Arizona (+425) and Florida (+650). In the Women\u2019s bracket, defending champion Connecticut (-280) are large favorites, followed by UCLA (+500) and Texas (+700). The championship game on the women&#8217;s side is April 5 at Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix.<\/p>\n<h2>Record Engagement<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re expecting a fairly chalky tournament this year, similar to what we saw last season,&#8221; said Patrick Berbert, College Basketball Trader at Caesars Sportsbook. &#8220;The NIL era has really widened the gap between the top programs and the rest of the field.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"main-blockquote\">\n<p>From a betting standpoint, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sports-betting-optimove-study-march-madness\/\">we\u2019re projecting record engagement again<\/a>. College basketball has been a phenomenal product all season, and the television ratings reflect that, as it was reportedly the most-watched regular season ever.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cWe anticipate SMU\/Miami OH, Utah St\/Villanova, High Point\/Wisconsin, and the winner of NC State\/Texas vs BYU to be highly-wagered First Round games,\u201d said Berbert.<\/p>\n<h2>Men&#8217;s Side Betting Favourites<\/h2>\n<p>No. 1 Duke opens up against No. 16 Siena Thursday at Bon Secours Wellness Arena, with No. 1 Michigan opening up Thursday as well, against a team to be determined, at KeyBank Center in Buffalo. On Friday, No. 1 Arizona plays No. 16 Long Island University at Viejas Arena in San Diego, while No. 1 Florida plays a team to be determined at Benchmark International Arena.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDuke enters the tournament as the current title favorite at +295,&#8221; said Berbert. &#8220;They\u2019ve been dealing with some injuries lately, but they\u2019re expected to get Patrick Ngbonga back, which should give them a boost heading into the tournament. Michigan, meanwhile, cooled off a bit after its scorching start, and the injury to LJ Cason could be significant.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Florida had some struggles during non-conference play, but really found its stride in SEC action. With a roster full of experienced players, they\u2019ll be a tough out. Arizona may be the most battle-tested of the group, given the schedule they\u2019ve played and the consistency they\u2019ve shown all season. All four teams have earned their position near the top of the odds board.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Women&#8217;s Side Betting Favourites<\/h2>\n<p>On the women&#8217;s side, No. 1 Texas opens up Friday against a team to be determined at Moody Center in Austin, and No. 1 South Carolina opens up Saturday against a team to be determined at Colonial Life Arena, in Columbia, SC. Also on Saturday, No. 1 UConn plays No. 16 UTSA at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, CT, and \u00a0No. 1 UCLA plays No. 16 California Baptist at Pauley Pavilion in L.A.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"main-blockquote\">\n<p>UConn has been incredibly dominant, winning 29-straight games by double digits,&#8221; said Berbert. &#8220;It\u2019s one of the more remarkable runs we\u2019ve seen in recent memory, and that dominance is reflected in their current title price of -280. Sarah Strong has emerged as the favorite for the Wooden Award, and Azzi Fudd continues to play at an elite level as one of the best players in the country.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;In our view, UCLA presents the biggest potential challenge, but overall, it\u2019s hard to see many teams standing in UConn\u2019s way if they continue playing at this level.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Cinderella Teams to Watch Out For<\/h2>\n<p>South Florida, under coach Bryan Hodgson, a team that pushes the pace and shoots a high volume of threes, is a team to watch out on the men&#8217;s side, Berbert added, as a Saint Louis and Miami (Ohio), drawing early attention as Cinderella teams, in the men&#8217;s bracket as well.<\/p>\n<p>According to BetMGM this morning, most bet games (tickets) are SMU at Miami OH, NC State at Texas, Howard at MD Baltimore, Northern Iowa at St. Johns, and High Point at Wisconsin.<\/p>\n<p>At theScore Bet, biggest opening spreads are Arizona\u00a0-29.5 (vs LIU), Duke\u00a0-28.5 (vs Siena), Purdue\u00a0-23.5 (vs Queens University), Iowa State -23.5 (vs Tennessee State), Houston\u00a0-21.5 (vs Idaho), and Illinois -21.5 (vs Penn).<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ncaa-betting-march-madness-record-engagement\/\">Trader: We\u2019re Expecting Record Engagement for March Madness<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\">Casino.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fields set for start of March Madness single-elimination NCAA Division I basketball tournament this week First Four play-in games start tomorrow Sportsbooks predicting\u00a0record engagement this time out It\u2019s been a long winter, a long wait, but for bettors, the March Madness Men\u2019s and Women\u2019s NCAA Basketball tournaments are now upon us, with sportsbook traders expecting&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":655,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=653"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":656,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653\/revisions\/656"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}