March Madness Betting Guide for 2025

March Madness is one of the iconic sporting events that is held every year, a massive tournament that features the next generation of basketball superstars competing to earn their shot at history.

But finding the best NCAA March Madness betting sites is not easy, because this is such a massive, wildly popular event, with so many options. But we’ve compiled a guide to the many NCAA March madness sportsbooks, as well as everything you need to know about this huge event.

March Madness combines a year’s-worth of excitement into a single annual tournament. It features the 64 best teams from the National Collegiate Athletic Association facing off in a single-elimination tournament, where ultimately, one team will be crowned the champion. This tournament has seen many of the most famous basketball players of all time face off, and is an iconic event that stretches for weeks. It is also an absolute hub for bettors.

At BettingTop10, we’ve created a guide to help you hit the ground running as we look ahead to the 2023 iteration of America and Canada’s favorite tournament. We’ll offer you insights into the potential field this year, tips for college basketball betting, and everything else you might need to know as we move ever-closer to an absolutely stacked tournament of non-stop college basketball action.

If you are curious about how we review our betting sites click here. If you want a full list of our reviewed sportsbooks, check out our sportsbook reviews page. You can also read about each brand by clicking "review". If you want a full list of our reviewed sportsbooks, check out our sportsbook reviews page.

There are several dominant teams that sportsbooks appear to have given the highest odds to win March Madness. Below, we’ll look at the teams with the top March Madness odds.

Team
Auburn	+325	+330	+300
Duke	+400	+450	+400
Florida	+900	+900	+900
Houston	+900	+900	+900
Alabama	+1200	+1400	+900
Iowa State	+1600	+1700	+1500

March Madness is as unpredictable as it gets, as just one loss sends a team out of the tournament. But still, there are some teams that bookmakers believe have what it takes this year. Below are the teams with the highest odds of winning according to March Madness betting sites.

Auburn (+325)

Auburn is the current favourite to win it all, with the highest March Madness odds. It isn't hard to see why. This is a team that has been wire-to-wire dominant. They have absolutely rampaged through the SEC and have arguably the top player in the country in senior Johni Broome. This is a deep, balanced team with one of the top offences in the nation. Coach Bruce Pearl has led Auburn on some deep tournament runs before, but this could finally be the year they get over the hump and win it all.

Duke (+400)

Duke is a team many fans cheer against, but this year’s iteration has not given opposing fans much to cheer for. The Blue Devils have been exceptional this year, rating top ten in both offensive rating and defensive rating. They have a marquee victory over Auburn, and the dynamic talent to help coach Jon Scheyer make his first run into the Final Four of the tournament. They are led by Cooper Flagg, the freshman superstar who is the favourite for the Wooden National Player of the Year, but they also have a deep lineup that has given opponents fits.

Florida (+900)

Off the court, there has been some drama for the Gators this year, but on it, there has been consistent excellence. Not many pundits had the Gators pegged as one of the true contenders this season, but they have gotten off to a dominant start. They have wins over Auburn and Tennessee, two other SEC contenders, and have a strong offensive ceiling when everything is clicking. They are led by their exceptional back court, with Walter Clayton, Alijah Martin, and Will Richard really carrying the weight for the squad. While this isn’t the most experienced team in the tournament, they are still a threat to make some noise.

Houston (+900)

Kelvin Sampson has managed to transform Houston basketball since he took over, reaching the Final Four and the Elite Eight, but never winning it all. Could this be the year things go differently? Houston is, once again, a nightmare to play against. They have the best defensive rating in the country and play a stifling brand of basketball with plenty of steals and blocks. They also have experienced guards in L.J. Cryer and Emanuel Sharp, which is a recipe for tournament success.

These aren’t the only teams that have strong odds to make a run this year. Below are four other teams March Madness betting sites give high odds of winning.

• Alabama:  +1200
• Iowa State: +1600
• Tennessee: +1700 
• Wisconsin: +3000

There are numerous premier March Madness betting sites, but above are the top options. While we’ve given you a brief intro to these operators, below, we’ll dive into a little more detail.

If you are unfamiliar with gambling and trying to get in on the action for this year’s March Madness, We at BettingTop10 can help.

Below, we’ll give you a breakdown of how to get started online betting on the Big Dance:

1. Sign up for some of our recommended sports betting sites above. These all include NCAA March Madness betting sites. If you’re not sure which betting site to use, look at our reviews which will provide you with more info.
2. Create your account, and deposit some money. Make sure it is an amount your comfortable losing, as there are no guarantees you will win anything betting on the chaos of March Madness.
3. Figure out what type of bet you want to make. For example, if you are betting on the winner of the tournament, a team to make the Final Four or Elite Eight, the point spread or winner of a single game, and so on. We will give a breakdown of the March Madness markets available later on in our guide.
4. Go to the Basketball section of the website you have selected for your bets, and click the NCAA/College Basketball section. There you will see the March Madness betting odds.
5. At this point, you should be ready to place your bets. Click on the odds you are betting on, input the amount of money you wish to bet, and click Place Bet, and enjoy the Madness!

March Madness is known to be chaotic, and if you’re a beginner bettor, betting on the tournament can be too. That is why we have come up with an explanation of different markets you can find on NCAA March Madness betting sites:

• Moneyline: Moneyline is betting directly on the result of a game, so whether one team will win or lose. If you are betting on a team on the Moneyline, that means you are betting on them to win their game outright, regardless of the point spread.
• Future bets: Future bets are bets on things that are in the more distant future, rather than the outcome of a game that has already happened. For example, a futures bet would be on a team to make the Final Four or win the tournament. These bets take place further on in the future.
• Total points (over/under): The total points is the number of total points projected to be scored by both teams combined. For this line, you can choose to bet the over or the under, meaning you think either more points will be scored or less.
• Prop bets: Prop bets are bets on things to happen within a game, or with individuals rather than the team. That means a prop bet could be something like who will win Tournament MVP, or who will score the most points in a game, or whether a team will score more or less than a certain amount of points in a half. These bets are the most expansive, as there’s a lot of different options that oddsmakers come up with.
• Spread: The spread is the line that oddsmakers project a team will either win or lose by. So if a team is favorited by -3, bettors can choose to bet for the spread, meaning the team will win by more than 3 points, or against the spread, meaning the team will either win by less than three points or lose.
• Parlays: Parlays are when users combine their different picks into one bet. This gives lower odds of the bet hitting, meaning the payout would be higher. But for a parlay to hit, every part of the bet needs to happen. Meaning if you parlay 5 different teams to win, and 4 of them do, you still won’t make money because not all your picks happened. Parlays are less likely to hit, but because of that, they result in some big payouts.

Betting option beginners should avoid 

NCAA March Madness sites offer a ton of different betting options, but not all of them are for beginners. If you are still learning the ropes of betting, it is good to experiment and try different markets, but maybe invest less heavily in some of them. The main market we’d advise beginners to be careful with is parlays. Parlays can win you big money, but they are also the hardest market to win. It can also be confusing for a beginner. We would just suggest for beginners to put the smallest amount of money into parlays until they gain some experience with betting.

Before you start betting on March Madness, it is important you find out where the best odds are. Odds determine what the payout will be for bettors if they wager on an outcome, and they also show gamblers what the projected likelihood of that outcome is according to sports betting sites.

All March Madness betting sites have their own odds, which means that there will naturally be some differences. Finding the best March Madness odds for the outcome that you believe will occur means that gamblers can secure higher payouts.

Let’s say, for example, you wanted to bet Alabama to win. Sportsbook A has Alabama listed at +900, while Sportsbook B has Alabama listed at +1400. That is a massive discrepancy, meaning, if you bet $100 on Alabama and they won, you would make $500 more betting on Sportsbook B.

The key is to check multiple sportsbooks before wagering. Find the one with the odds most favourable to the outcome you believe will happen before wagering.

There are many March Madness betting sites that provide bonuses to users for wagering with them. Since this is such a major even that attracts so much attention, many operators use bonuses to try and catch gamblers’ attention. Below, we’ll look at some popular bonuses you are likely to find available come March Madness.  

• Welcome Offers: Welcome offers are available throughout the year, but March Madness might be a great time to take advantage of one of these offers. Welcome offers incentivize users for registering and depositing by providing a bonus, typically in the form of a matched deposit.
• Free Bets: Free bets are when operators provide users a risk-free bet, where they can keep the winning. Many betting sites will offer free bet offers for March Madness, so gamblers can make a wager on a game.
• Parlay Boosts: Parlay boosts are when sportsbooks agree to enhance winnings on parlay bets, with more legs leading to more enhanced winnings. This is a common offer, so if you love parlays, find a sportsbook that has this bonus for your March Madness parlays.
• Enhanced Odds: Enhanced odds are when betting sites take a line and enhance one of the odds to be more favourable to bettors. This will lead to some more attractive March Madness odds for gamblers to wager on, even if nothing in the game has changed to warrant the betting site altering the odds.

March Madness is exceedingly unpredictable. Chances are, you’re going to be disappointed if you expect perfection. However, just because you aren’t likely to win them all doesn’t mean that you can’t find strategies that help guide you to success. It is no easy task, but there are certain strategies bettors can utilize to find the best results. Here are some important ones.

• Bet the Bracket: If you are betting a team to win outright, don’t make this decision without consulting the bracket. The bracket is what defines teams’ chances. Teams are divided into four regions, with certain regions having less difficult pathways to the final rounds. Bet accordingly. If the team you think is going to win is in a gauntlet of a region, their chances are seriously damaged by this.
• Upperclassmen are Differentiators: This statement is said every year, but having older players on the team that has played in high-stress games is a huge differentiator. Teams like Kansas, UConn, and Baylor have all had key upperclassmen in their recent March Madness victories. There are teams who have been freshmen led that have won, but it is less common.
• Size and Physicality are Important: In the NBA, every team has at least one player that is nearly seven feet and bruises down low. In college, this isn’t the case. There will be some teams that won’t have the height and weight to match up with their competition. Particularly mid-major teams that make the tournament will often not have the size and physicality to square up against the top teams. Look at player sizes before betting games. Zach Edey has been a beast this year, and his 7’4 size is a big reason why. Few can stand in his path in college
• Pick Upsets: Don’t just go chalk. March Madness is called Madness for a reason, and the crazy is par for the course in this sporting event. If you are betting on games, take some risks because they very well might happen. Make sure to bet on some of the teams that aren’t favored by oddsmakers because, in a tournament where one loss eliminates you, anything can happen. The best team won’t win every game.
• Look at Team Stats: While individual player stats can paint a picture of a team, they don’t tell the whole story. If you want to get to the bottom of things, look at team stats. These show you how the overall team plays, and in Madness, the performance of a team is vastly more important than the performance of players. At this point in the season, the stats paint an interesting picture. Houston is ranked 2nd in defensive rating, and 5th in offensive rating. They look legit. Meanwhile, the stats don’t love Kansas one bit. They are 95th in offensive rating and 72nd in defensive rating.
• Experienced Coaches are the Ones That Win: You hear it over and over again in March, but it’s true: Madness is defined by the coaches. Every coach that has won March Madness in the past six tournaments had led a previous team to at least the Elite Eight round of the tournament. Experienced coaches get the job done in March, which is important information to know. Recent coaches that have won big in March include Bill Self, Dan Hurley, and Scott Drew.

March Madness is the final tournament that is the culmination of the NCAA season. After play-in games, the top 64 teams in Division 1 will make the tournament based on their performance in the regular season and conference tournaments. They are divided up into 4 sides of the bracket, each with 16 teams. Teams are ranked from 1 to 16, with 1 playing 16, 2 playing 15, and so on.

The games are 40 minutes with 5-minute overtime if necessary. The tournament is single elimination. Eventually, one team from each bracket will remain, and they will compete in a semi-final known as the Final Four. The two winners will face off to see who will be crowned as the March Madness Champion.

March Madness is known for its wild atmosphere and unpredictability. When a higher-ranked team loses to a lower-ranked team, it is known as an upset. The Big Dance, as March Madness is known, is filled with upsets and crazy moments. Because every team’s season comes down to a single game, every game is tense and drama-filled as teams lay it all on the line. This is a big part of what makes gambling on Madness so fun. Chaos is a guarantee, and bettors delight in trying to capitalize on that chaos.

Below are some helpful statistics that can shape how you bet on the upcoming March Madness tournament:

• 1 in 9.2 quintillions: statistical odds of filling out a perfect bracket
• The annual average amount of total upsets in a tournament is roughly 8.5. An upset is defined as the winning team being at least five seeds below the losing team.
• The ten seed beats the seven seed in the first round roughly 40% of the time
• There have been two times in history where the one seed lost to the 16 seed, Virginia in 2018 and Purdue in 2023.
• The 11 seed beats the six seed in the first round 39% of the time, while the 12 seed beats the five seed 35% of the time.
• The lowest seed to ever win the tournament was Villanova in 1985
• The lowest seed to make the Final Four was an 11 seed, which happened three times. The most recent was when UCLA made the Final Four.
• All four number one seeds have only made the Final Four once.
• Underdogs in March Madness have covered 44% of the time and won outright 29% of the time since the tournament began.

If you are getting excited for March Madness already, you are not alone. Many already have this event circled in their calendar. The dates for the event are mostly set, so bettors can start planning accordingly.

Selection Sunday will take place on Sunday, March 16th. That is when the bracket will be established.

The First Four will be played on March 18th-19th. Then, the first round will take place from March 20th-21st. The second round will be played March 22nd-23rd.

The Sweet Sixteen will play on March 27th-28th, the Elite Eight will play on March 29th-30th, and the Final Four will play on April 5th.

Finally, when the dust has settled and two teams remain, the Championship game will be played on April 7th.

The games are played at stadiums across the country. Regardless of where you live in the United States, there is a good chance that a stadium not far from you will host a game. Here are all the cities that host a game in this year’s tournament:

• Dayton, OH
• Lexington, KY
• Providence, RI
• Seattle, WA
• Wichita, KS
• Cleveland, OH
• Denver, CO
• Milwaukee, WI
• Raleigh, NC
• Newark, NJ
• San Francisco, CA
• Atlanta, GA
• Indianapolis, IN 

The Final Four and Championship game will be played at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.

While we’ve covered a lot of ground, there is still a chance that many bettors will have some questions. If that is the case, we are happy to help. Below are answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about wagering on March Madness.