{"id":665,"date":"2026-03-14T14:38:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T15:38:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/?p=665"},"modified":"2026-03-25T13:28:05","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T13:28:05","slug":"aga-estimates-americans-will-bet-3-3-billion-on-march-madness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/14\/aga-estimates-americans-will-bet-3-3-billion-on-march-madness\/","title":{"rendered":"AGA Estimates Americans Will Bet $3.3 Billion on March Madness"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li><strong>68-team fields on both the NCAA Division 1 men&#8217;s and women&#8217;s basketball sides start play next week<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><b>Selection Sunday scheduled for tomorrow<\/b><\/li>\n<li><strong>American Gaming Association projects big increase in betting on\u00a0<\/strong><b>licensed platforms<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p>The American Gaming Association (AGA) is projecting that Americans will wager $3.3 billion across legal sportsbooks on the March Madness NCAA Division 1 Men\u2019s and Women\u2019s Basketball Tournaments, which get started next week.<\/p>\n<p><figure id=\"attachment_379518\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-379518\" data-style=\"width: 858px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-post-thumbnail-858xAUTO wp-image-379518 lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" alt=\"\" width=\"858\" height=\"572\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/March-Madness-2025-1-858x572-1.jpg\"><figcaption>A detail of March Madness branding prior to the first round of the NCAA Women&#8217;s Basketball Tournament at Purcell Pavilion at the Joyce Center in March 2025 in South Bend, Indiana. (Image: Michael Reaves\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n<h2>Selection Sunday<\/h2>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">That would be a 54% increase over the past three years, which the AGA said reflects public confidence in the regulated market. Last year the AGA projected $3.1 billion.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"main-blockquote\">\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">March Madness is the highlight of the college basketball season and fans are gearing up for a month of tournament action,\u201d said Bill Miller, President and CEO of the American Gaming Association.\u00a0<span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u201cFans\u00a0continue to engage with legal, state- and tribal-regulated\u00a0sports betting\u00a0in record numbers during one of the biggest moments on the sports calendar.\u201d<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">The tournament always brings complete unpredictability, on both sides &#8211; upsets, buzzer beaters, Cinderella stories. That makes it both interesting and challenges for sports bettors. Last year was an anomaly on the men\u2019s side \u2013 all four No. 1 seeds (Florida, Houston, Duke and Auburn) advanced to the Final Four on the men\u2019s side.<\/p>\n<h2>AGA Projects $3.3 Billion in Wagering<\/h2>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">Selection Sunday is just a day away, the official kick off to March Madness, when the 68-team fields for both the men\u2019s and women\u2019s tournaments are revealed \u2013 6 p.m. tomorrow on CBS for the men, followed by the women at 8 p.m. EST on ESPN.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">On the men\u2019s side, the First Four gets going March 17-18 at UD Arena in Dayton, OH, with the First Round March 19-20, Second Round March 21-22. Sweet 16 March 26-27, then the Elite Eight March 28-29.<\/p>\n<h2>Championship Games April 5-6<\/h2>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis hosts the Final Four on April 4, with the NCAA men\u2019s championship game scheduled for April 6, also at Lucas Oil Stadium.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">On the women\u2019s side, the First Four gets going March 18-19 at various campus locations, with the First Round March 20-21, Second Round March 22-23. Sweet 16 March 27-28, then the Elite Eight March 29-30.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix hosts the Final Four on April 3, with the NCAA women\u2019s championship game scheduled for April 5, also at Mortgage Matchup Center.<\/p>\n<h2>Prediction Markets<\/h2>\n<p>Earlier this week, H2 Gambling Capital sent out a statement projecting $4 billion in sportsbook handle for March Madness, a 6.7% increase from last year&#8217;s tournament.<\/p>\n<p>These projections of course only account for betting on legal sportsbooks in 38 U.S. states (plus Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico) and doesn&#8217;t account for prediction market wagering on platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket. Markets on prediction platforms are expanding. Prediction market platforms were launched by DraftKings and FanDuel in 2025, as well.<\/p>\n<p>Legal sports betting in Missouri launched in December, the only U.S. state that jumped into the regulated sports betting space since March Madness 2025.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ncaa-betting-aga-americans-march-madness-betting\/\">AGA Estimates Americans Will Bet $3.3 Billion on March Madness<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\">Casino.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>68-team fields on both the NCAA Division 1 men&#8217;s and women&#8217;s basketball sides start play next week Selection Sunday scheduled for tomorrow American Gaming Association projects big increase in betting on\u00a0licensed platforms The American Gaming Association (AGA) is projecting that Americans will wager $3.3 billion across legal sportsbooks on the March Madness NCAA Division 1&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":615,"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\/665"}],"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=665"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":667,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665\/revisions\/667"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}