By TheNuts - Apr 16, 2025
March Madness 2025: Did It Pay Off For Sportsbooks?
Although most states do not publicize
sports betting handle and income by sport, studies show that March Madness is a lucrative event for bettors. Before the tournament, the
American Gaming Association (AGA) projected that Americans will legally wager roughly $3.1 billion, up from $2.7 billion in 2024. While full official numbers are not yet available, preliminary data from some states provide some intriguing observations.
Take North Carolina as an example. The state had a record-breaking handle in March, but the gross income (the amount bookmakers kept after paying out prizes) was the third lowest in its short regulated history.
One possible cause is that the event has produced few huge upsets. Bettors who stayed with favorites probably had a good month.
Out of the 32 men's teams that advanced to the second round, half were from the SEC and Big Ten conferences. In addition, all of the top 16 teams came from the four strongest conferences.
Stats Perform reported the lowest number of conferences represented in the Sweet 16 in 50 years. Historically, at least seven different conferences have advanced that far.
Higher-seeded teams won all Sweet 16 and Elite 8 games. With so few shocks, sportsbooks are likely to pay out significantly on favorite-driven parlays and straight bets.
By the time this article was written, only a few states had provided their complete March 2025 sports betting reports. Still, the available data shows a clear pattern: record-breaking handles in multiple markets, but lower-than-average win rates for bookmakers.