March Madness 2026 Projected to Hit $3.3 Billion Betting Handle

Just weeks ago, we were looking at one of the biggest Super Bowl projected betting handles in history, with a record $1.76 billion in wagers. But March Madness this year promises to blow that number out of the water, nearly doubling it with a projected $3.3 billion. Ok, we aren’t being fair here comparing the biggest NFL game of the year, to a drawn-out 60+ game tournament that runs for 3 weeks. But it just goes to show how important March Madness is for sports bettors in America, and that is not all.

For the projections, do not only count the parlays, SGPs, pregame bets and live wagers for this historic competition. But it also takes into account the emerging alternative wagering formats that have gripped America, such as DFS fantasy contests, peer to peer betting, March Madness brackets and pools, and even prediction markets. What the numbers don’t show are the social pools, tote betting, and private wagers made between peers, something which is extremely prominent among college sports, especially March Madness.

Record March Madness Betting Handle in Sight

The $3.3 billion projected handle for March Madness 2026 doesn’t really come as much of a surprise, as March Madness always gets basketball fans riled up. Even before the first states legalized sports betting, after 2018, March Madness fans were using DFS platforms and alternate products to stake their predictions and get in on the college basketball action. Looking back at the past 3 years, and there is a steady uptrend in the legal money betting handles for this competition.

• 2024: Around $2.7 billion
• 2025: Around $3.1 billion
• 2026: $3.3 billion up to $4 billion

If the March Madness betting volume can smash that upper boundary of $4 billion, that is a 48% increase across 2 years. The growth is consistent in the direction that all betting operators can get behind. Considering how mobile betting is becoming more mainstream, more states are legalizing sports betting (39 states with Missouri back in December), and the competition is just growing, events like March Madness are set to grow significantly in the next few years.

How People Bet on March Madness

March is actually quite a busy season for bettors and NCAA basketball sportsbooks alike. The MLS kicks off in February so during March you get soccer betting on the opening weeks of the competition. The NHL and NBA are in the playoffs, which are a busy time, but historically, these tend to peak around June or July, when you get the Stanley Cup and NBA Championship games. For football fans, this month is one of the off seasons.

So the competition is not incredibly high here, and March Madness betting can flourish. Typically it starts with an influx of futures bets, followed by pregame wagers, parlay bets, SGPs, and props bets. But there are controversies and restrictions here too. A lot of betting states have strict rules on what you can and can’t bet on for college sports. For example, in New Jersey, New York, Indiana, Virginia and Illinois, you can’t bet on in-state college teams. There are states that completely ban player props, including Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, among others.

The bans can also stretch out to outright bans on props, so you can only bet on markets related to a game outcome, like moneylines, spreads or totals. But then there are states where you have few to no college betting restrictions, such as Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Michigan and Louisiana. Sports bettors who want to get bets on players, or bet outside these restrictions, cannot really do so, unless they try alternative types of platforms.

Social Betting, Pools and DFS

One of the biggest drivers of March Madness’ dominance is the betting and real money gambling that happens outside the framework of conventional sports betting. Here, we are talking about those March Madness bracket tournaments, survivor pools, social betting contests, and DFS games. Whether it is Pick’Em contests where you have to assemble lineups, or pick winners and survive each bracket of the tournament, these are not strictly speaking betting products.

But you do pay an entry to submit your lineup or prediction in the tournament, and you compete in leaderboards or against the odds to win prizes from pools. It is very much a multi-layered experience for fans, as there are gamified types of betting contests and all sorts of ways to get in on the action, and share the spoils if your predictions come through. Peer to peer betting, betting exchanges, and the latest craze in America, prediction markets are also viable options that sports fans can get behind, supplying similar betting products to conventional sportsbooks.

Legislation and Concerns About College Betting

The NCAA has frequently clashed heads with lawmakers and sportsbook operators regarding college sports bets. There have been historical precedents of match fixing and damaging scandals that have called the integrity of the sports events and games into question. College students are considered more vulnerable to corruption, because they are not paid professionals (and so are more susceptible to bribery), and most of these players are teens or just brushing 20. Therefore, they may be more impressionable than adult, professional athletes. Some historic cases of bribery have not involved the athletes at all, but have been made by coaches and officials – from leaking valuable insider information to deliberately manipulating team rosters to fix results.

It really explains why the NCAA and surrounding organizations are so concerned about the impacts of college betting. Then, there is the exposure to consider here. March Madness can be highly attractive to students in college, many of whom are not old enough to gamble (21+ in most states). A recent study in the US suggested that there is a massive problem with underage gambling in the US, specifically among teenage boys, and as one of the most prominent and biggest competitions to bet on, there is a duty of responsibility from the organizers of March Madness to curb its influence on the younger demographic.

How March Madness Fares Against Other Top Betting Events

Again, we know it’s not fair to compare a 60+ game tournament against a single game, but it is quite staggering how big the March Madness betting volume is compared to the Big Game in the NFL. If you look at other major finals, such as the NBA Finals and World Series, the total handle is significantly lower. March Madness is really one of the major events for sports bettors, and there aren’t many competitions that come close.

The relatively short length of this competition, the intense schedule, and the grassroots following all help to build it up. It is something that is pretty rare in the US, and what puts March Madness in a world of its own. But if we are going to compare events by betting volume here, then it will be interesting to see how this March Madness compares against the FIFA World Cup this summer. It always prompts major betting activity across the world, and now that this one is going to be hosted (mostly) in the US, it will be intriguing to see how the US public responds to soccer betting for this famous event. The last World Cup, in 2022, made around $1.8 billion in total wagers, and over 20 million US bettors placed bets. Now, 4 years on, the US betting landscape is far more mainstream, and the country will host the competition, so it could easily blow the record March Madness handle out of the water.