March Madness Betting 2021

Starting with 68 teams across four regions, the single-elimination NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament, aka “March Madness,” runs over three long weekends in March/April. With it comes a ton of betting opportunities.

With more sportsbooks in the NJ market and total sports betting handle on the rise, March Madness 2021 numbers should soar. Due to NJ regulations you can’t bet on NJ-based college teams or games played in NJ, but since no NCAA tournament action takes place in NJ this year sportsbooks can take bets on almost every March Madness game.

That means you can fill out your March Madness brackets, bet on NCAA basketball futures or bet live on each game in progress as long as no NJ teams are involved. Here’s what you need to know to bet on March Madness in NJ.

Best NJ online sportsbooks for March Madness

Best March Madness betting apps

The best NJ mobile apps are available for download to both iOS and Android devices. Click through to any online sportsbook through our links and you can download the app directly from there.

If you live in New York or other neighboring states you can download the app and set up your account the same as if you lived in New Jersey. You can transfer funds and prep all your bets right from home – you only need to pop over the border into NJ to place your bets. You can even withdraw any winnings from your home state as well.

Here are the top sports betting apps in NJ and what they have to offer for March Madness:

1. DraftKings Sportsbook – $25 in free bets

DraftKings Sportsbook is a true March Madness sports betting destination. DraftKings Sportsbook typically run two March Madness bracket contests including a free-to-play bracket with $64,000 in prizes (available across the US) and a $20 buy-in, only-in-NJ bracket contest with $100,000 up for grabs.

In 2020, DraftKings Sportsbook launched its Tourney Mania hub with access to all of DraftKings March Madness brackets and promos. A new, free $16,000 Second-Chance Bracket contest was announced as was a free $250,000 Survivor Pool.

DraftKings Sportsbook also has traditional sports betting markets for the entire NCAA Tournament, including moneylines, spreads and totals for every game plus team and player props.

Get $25 free + $1,000 in bets and bonuses at DraftKings NJ

2. William Hill NJ Sportsbook – $10 free

William Hill NJ Sportsbook ramped up for March Madness in 2020 with a “March to March” promo offering bonus credits for winning bets on the top college basketball games throughout February. This suggests something even more special is on the way with William Hill primed and ready to get into the March Madness promo game.

That’s alongside hosting traditional sports betting markets for the entire NCAA Tournament, including futures, game lines and props.

Claim your free $10 sports bet at William Hill with code PLAYNJ150

3. FanDuel Sportsbook – Up to $1,000 risk-free bet

FanDuel Sportsbook will be more than ready for March Madness in 2021 with everything found in its March Madness Hub. The ultra-popular free $250,000 Bracket Madness contest should return with the best bracket walking away with $100,000.

FanDuel Sportsbook also runs a free daily Props Pick ‘Em contest with a $10,000 daily jackpot throughout the Tournament. Of course, competitive lines makes FanDuel Sportsbook the perfect place to bet on March Madness futures, individual game lines and props too.

Claim your risk free bet at FanDuel NJ now!

Why bet March Madness online?

There are several reasons why more than 80% of the sports bets in New Jersey are placed online. It starts with convenience and the fact NJ sports betting apps are open 24/7 and available from anywhere inside the state. But it doesn’t end there.

The choice you have between several operators means you can line shop from your couch to find the best prices on a bet. There’s no waiting in line, no identifying numbers and no special betting jargon required to place bets.

Online and mobile sports betting gives you the chance to make the bets you want instantly from a phone, tablet, or computer. March Madness also offers 67 games over three weeks with literally thousands of in-game betting opportunities. As mentioned, if you’re from out of state you can also download and manage your account from home and simply hop across the state line to bet.

Ultimately, no missed opportunities and no lineup help make the choice between traditional retail sportsbooks and betting apps a no brainer.

Brackets vs Betting on March Madness

There are essentially three ways you can bet on March Madness in NJ:

Free/Paid bracket contests

Brackets are the traditional way most Americans bet on the NCAA tournament.

You fill out a full, 63-game bracket prior to the start of the NCAA Tournament and either pay to enter it into a pool or submit it to a free-to-enter NCAA Tournament bracket contest. Several NJ online and mobile sportsbooks run both (more on these below).

Pick more winners than anyone else in the pool or contest and you’ll walk away a winner. Check out the best free March Madness contests here:

• Free March Madness Bracket Contests

March Madness Odds

There’s no need to wait for the teams to be announced on Selection Sunday to start betting on March Madness. March Madness futures give you the chance to bet on a team you think will win the NCAA Tournament during the regular season, conference tournaments and before March Madness has tipped off.

NJ sportsbooks will adjust the odds on the teams as the season and tournament progresses, meaning the earlier you get a bet down on a favorite the better the odds usually are.

Check our real-time odds feed to see how the 2020 March Madness Futures Odds stack up at NJ online sportsbooks right now:

Game-by-game betting (moneylines, spreads, totals, props)

NJ online sportsbooks offer individual bets on every bit of NCAA Tournament action.  The main advantage of betting March Madness game-by-game is the freedom it provides.

Filling out a 63-game bracket requires you to pick a winner in every single game – before you even know if a team will advance beyond the first round. Betting March Madness game-by-game allows you to be much more selective and avoid betting games where you simply don’t have all the information you need.

Brackets get busted early and futures fizzle out. But combine game-by-game betting with proper bankroll management principles and you can find a way to carry your balance through the length of the 2020 NCAA Tournament.

There’s nothing wrong with entering several free and low-entry bracket contests. It’s just that it’s a lot harder to win a bracket contest than a single-game wager. Therefore, wagering a sizable portion of your bankroll on bracket contests is a bad idea.

You’re much better off doing some NCAA basketball research and applying proper bankroll management principals to game-by-game March Madness betting.

That research should start with the NCAA Tournament seeding. Just like the odds NJ online and mobile sportsbooks post on NCAA games can provide some help in filling out a bracket, the seeding can give some insight into March Madness game betting. Plus, some of the same strategies you apply to filling out a bracket can help you identify the best 2020 NCAA Tournament bets.

March Madness betting lines

The NCAA Tournament and each game that is a part of it offers a wide variety of betting opportunities. That’s a big part of the reason why more money is bet on this event than any other in US sports, college or pro.

Here is a rundown of the different March Madness betting lines:

Moneyline

For those unfamiliar with sports betting terms, the moneyline bet comes down to picking the straight-up winner.

There is a number, or odds, associated with each team. If Harvard is listed at -600 against Columbia, they’re considered a heavy favorite (you would need to bet $600 to win $100).

On the flip-side, if Columbia, +440, were to win, that same $100 wager would net the bettor $440. The plus sign before the number means the team is an underdog.

Point spread

Once the NCAA Tournament field is set, point spreads will be released for the first round of 32 games. Several of the games, including the No. 1 versus No. 16 matchups, will feature double-digit spreads.

But which side will cover the spread?

Betting on the favorite means your pick needs to win by a margin determined by the odds. Betting on the underdog gives the bettor a cushion in which a team loss may still produce a winning ticket.

Total points

No real explanation is needed. NJ sportsbooks set an over/under line, or total points, for each game. The bettor simply decides which side of the line to play.

Parlay

Parlays bring an added challenge to the sports betting game as they can range from two legs to 10-plus.

Each leg of the bet is dependent on the other to produce a winning ticket. However, there are times where one of the legs ends in a tie. If that happens, the bettor will still receive a payout at reduced odds.

Teasers

Teaser bets are a way to reduce the betting line, either reducing points on the favorite or adding them to the underdog. These wagers apply to two or more teams.

Some sites also offer Teaser+, courtesy of Kambi. DraftKings and SugarHouse use Kambi to power their sportsbooks. You can read more about Teaser+ here.

Prop bets

Prop bets are the more outside-the-box wagers. Player and team props (short for propositions) are offered for most sports. A certain player scoring 20 points or more or which team will score the first basket of the game are a couple of examples.

Player/Game props

NJ sportsbooks will make a variety of game and player prop bets available for NCAA games. The number of props available will also increase the closer to the Championship game it is.

Props are bets on the games within the game and on players achieving various statistical milestones.

Props vary but you can expect to see game props like an over/under on the largest lead by either, the total 3-point field goals by both teams, and moneyline odds on the team to make first 3-point shot.

You can also expect to see player props including an over/under on a specific player’s points, free throws made, and rebounds.

March Madness brackets

March Madness bracket contests and pools are the way most Americans bet on the NCAA tournament. It involves filling out a full bracket and picking winners for every one of the 63 games in the NCAA Tournament before it begins. There are also Second-Chance bracket contests allowing you to enter new brackets for later tournament rounds.

According to a study released by the American Gaming Association (AGA) in 2019, approximately 40 million people fill out a March Madness bracket every year. That’s around 16% of the country. The AGA also says those 40 million people will fill out 149 million brackets and spend $4.6 billion entering them in different pools and contests.

Brackets are quite different from game-by-game wagering on the NCAA Tournament. The latter allows you to be more selective in the teams you back and pay out based on posted odds rather than your standing against others.

With brackets, you either pay to enter your selections in a pool at the office, local bar, social club, or sportsbook, or submit it to a free-to-enter NCAA Tournament bracket contest.

Either way, you must pick more winners than just about anyone else in the pool to get paid. Contest and pool payouts range from winner take all to a small percentage of the top entries earning money. This makes it very tough to win money in bracket contests, particularly the free-to-enter contests with thousands of entries from across the US.

Early upsets will bust a lot of brackets. If a team you back to go deep goes out in the first or second round, you’ll quickly end up with too many losses in your bracket to compete.

Best free March Madness bracket contests

Many of the top NJ sportsbook apps now run free-to-play NCAA Tournament bracket contests annually. Those who did in 2019 and are expected to do so in 2020 include:

DraftKings Bracket Challenges

DraftKings jumped in the free NCAA bracket contest game in 2019 with a free-to-play bracket contest open to anyone in the country offering up $64,000 in prizes. The top 6,475 places got paid and there was a $5,000 first prize.

In 2020, DraftKings will  run a free $16,000 Second-Chance Bracket contest for those who are out of the running in the big one after the first two rounds.

DraftKings will also run a free $250,000 Survivor Pool where you must pick a winning team on each day to advance.

Note: DraftKings free-to-play March Madness contests are open to anyone in the US.

FanDuel Bracket Madness

The $250,000 Bracket Madness contest on FanDuel Sportsbook in 2019 was among the richest free-to-play NCAA Tournament bracket contests in the country. The best bracket won a $100,000 first prize while second-place walked away with $50,000. The top 1,000 finishers also won various cash prizes.

FanDuel’s 2020 Bracket Challenge is yet to be announced.

Caesars Casino & Sports

Caesars Casino & Sports runs its own March Pick’Em Challenge. It’s a basic free-to-play bracket challenge offering prizes for the top 800 finishers, including a grand prize of a free $250 sports bet every week for a year. Second place gets a free $100 sports bet per week for a year and third wins a trip to Las Vegas, Nevada.

SugarHouse Sportsbook

SugarHouse Sportsbook runs an exclusive NCAA tournament contest called March Mania. It’s a March Madness brackets contest with a promotional twist. It’s a free bracket contest with entrants earning SugarHouse Bonus Store Points for each correct pick. There’s also bonus prizes for the best brackets, including a $1,000 first prize. The top 100 finishers get paid.

Of course, there are also a number of other free March Madness bracket contests run around the country, including:

Yahoo! Sports Best Bracket Millionaire

Yahoo! Sports and Subway ran the the Best Bracket Millionaire contest offering a $1 million prize for the best bracket in 2019. The contest was open to anyone in the US over 18 or the age of majority in their state of residence.

ESPN Tournament Challenge

The ESPN Tournament Challenge offers up $22,950 in prizes in its free March Madness contest. The grand prize was a trip for two to the 2019 Maui Jim Maui Invitational in Hawaii last year.

CBS Sports 2019 Tournament Bracket Games

Official NCAA tournament broadcaster CBS Sports had a bracket contest in 2019 offering the chance to win $10,000 and a trip to the 2020 NCAA Final Four.

How to build your first March Madness bracket

The unpredictability of bracket betting aside, there’s no doubt it’s one of the most fun ways to bet on March Madness. Whether this is your first bracket or your 100th, the following five basic March Madness bracket building tips tend to hold true:

1. Trust the odds

NJ online and mobile sportsbooks post futures odds for every team and moneyline point spread lines for (virtually) every game. This information can actually give you some help in filling out a bracket.

The lines are posted by oddsmakers with in-depth knowledge about the world of college basketball betting and you can lean on these NCAA experts to help you make your picks.

They aren’t always right, but they’re not often way wrong. You can feel confident in using the information available at NJ sports betting apps to help you make the majority of your March Madness picks.

Just look for the teams that oddsmakers have as massive first-round favorites, or favorites to win it all, then pencil them into the second or third round at the very least.

2. Trust the seeding early

Before 2018, no top seed had ever lost to a No. 16 seed in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Maryland-Baltimore County win over Virginia in 2018 broke a 135-game winning streak for No. 1 seeds and proved March Madness miracles can happen.

However, it also highlighted how rare those miracles are. The truth is:

• The top four seeds almost always win in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament

You never want to ignore this when filling out our March Madness brackets.

3. Look out for the No. 12 seed

The No. 5 vs. No. 12 first round match up has proven to be a bit of a statistical anomaly in the NCAA Tournament. No. 12 seeds actually win more than statistically expected in these games. There have been 47 12 seed over 5 seed upsets since the NCAA tournament field expanded in 1985. Out of 136 total games, that puts the #12 seed win rate at 35%.

The No. 10 and No. 11 seeds often fill Cinderella’s glass slipper in the early rounds as well.

Part of filling out a winning bracket is picking upsets. You can’t just pick the higher seed to win all the way through and expect to win a contest or pool. The trick is to find the real opportunities for big upsets and the No. 12, No. 11, and No. 10 seeds are often a good place to start.

4. Heat check

Look for lower seeded teams that have truly played their way into the NCAA Tournament by upsetting a perennial favorite to win a conference tournament title.

Momentum is real in the NCAA Tournament, so look for hot teams that are playing above their heads to continue to win through the early rounds of the tournament at least.

5. Trust the seeding late

Historically, the higher-seeded team wins almost 75% of the time in the Final Four.

When it comes time to fill out the last few games in your bracket, take a look back at the seeding to give you an idea of who the real favorites are.

2020 March Madness schedule

March Madness will run three weekends in a row from March 17 (First Four) to April 6 (Championship Game). Here’s a look at the complete 2020 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament schedule:

Round Location Dates

• Selection Sunday N/A March 15
• First Four Dayton, OH March 17-18
• 1st/2nd Rounds Albany, NY March 19/21
• 1st/2nd Rounds Spokane, WA March 19/21
• 1st/2nd Rounds St. Louis, MO March 19/21
• 1st/2nd Rounds Tampa, FL March 19/21
• 1st/2nd Rounds Greensboro, NC March 20/22
• 1st/2nd Rounds Omaha, NE March 20/22
• 1st/2nd Rounds Sacramento, CA March 20/22
• 1st/2nd Rounds Cleveland, OH March 20/22
• Midwest Regional Indianapolis, IN March 26/28
• West Regional Los Angeles, CA March 26/28
• East Regional New York, NY March 27/29
• South Regional Houston, TX March 27/29
• Final Four Atlanta, GA April 4
• National Championship Atlanta, GA April 6

Where can I stream March Madness in NJ

All of the games will be shown live on CBS, TNT, TBS, and TruTV. The March Madness Live app is available for iOS and Android devices. The games will be streaming on cbssports.com, as well.

New Jersey is home to 10 retail sportsbooks that will be showing all of the tournament games.

• Network: CBS
• Network streaming: CBS All Access, CBSSports.com, and CBS Sports app via phone, tablet, and connected TV devices (Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV and Chromecast)
• Streaming services (varies by market): DirecTV Now, FuboTV, Hulu with Live TV, PlayStation Vue, YouTube TV

How does Selection Sunday work?

There are 68 teams in the NCAA Tournament. The field is made up of 32 teams that earn automatic bids by winning their respective conference tournaments. The other 36 teams are given at-large bids on Selection Sunday, which falls on March 15 this year.

Selection Sunday is broadcast live on CBS. The NCAA Selection Committee is uses a system called NET to select the 36 teams at-large bids in 2020.

The NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) relies on data to rank teams from across the country and the NCAA Selection Committee gives the top 36 ranking non-conference tournament winners the at-large bids. The data includes:

• Game results
• Strength of schedule
• Game location
• Scoring margin
• Net offensive and defensive efficiency,
• Quality of wins and losses

The NCAA then ranks all 68 teams and the eight lowest teams face off in the First Four games on March 17 and 18 in Dayton, Ohio. The winners advance to the first round. First and second-round games will take place on March 19-22, 2020.

March Madness in NJ

NJ Sportsbooks are forbidden by law to take bets on college basketball games in New Jersey or involving NJ-based schools. That means if an NJ team makes the NCAA Tournament its games are off the board and removed from all brackets. You simply cannot bet on these games or these teams in NJ.

There are seven NJ colleges and universities that have NCAA Division I men’s basketball programs, including:

• New Jersey Institute of Technology NJIT (Newark, NJ)
• Princeton University (Montgomery, NJ)
• Rutgers University (New Brunswick, NJ)
• Monmouth University (West Long Branch, NJ)
• Rider University (Trenton, NJ)
• Fairleigh Dickinson University (Madison, NJ)
• Saint Peter’s University (Jersey City, NJ)
• Seton Hall University (South Orange, NJ)

NCAA tournament teams from NJ

The Seton Hall Pirates are the only NJ team in the AP Top 25 as of mid-February 2020. Seton Hall was ranked 10th in the country in the poll the week of Feb. 10, 2020.

In 2019, the Seton Hall Pirates lost to Villanova by two points in the Big East Tournament final. The NCAA still gave Seton Hall an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. Seton Hall was a No. 10 seed in the Midwest Region and lost to No. 7 Wofford in the First Round.

The Pirates have appeared in the NCAA Tournament thirteen times, including four straight years starting in 2016.

The Fairleigh Dickinson Knights tied for first in the Northeast Conference in 2019 and beat Saint Francis to win the NEC Tournament Championship. The Knights received the NEC’s automatic bid to the the NCAA Tournament and beat Prairie View A&M in a First Four game to advance to the First Round. There, Fairleigh Dickinson lost to a No. 1 seeded Gonzaga team. The Knights have only appeared in six NCAA Tournaments.

Princeton has appeared in 25 NCAA Tournaments. The last time was 2017. Monmouth University has appeared in four NCAA Division Tournaments. The last time was in 2006 when it won a First Four game.

The Rutgers Scarlet Knights have only appeared in the NCAA Tournament six times. The last time was 1991. Rider has only appeared in the NCAA Tournament three times, 1984, 1993, and 1994. The school has never won an NCAA Tournament game.

Saint Peter’s has only appeared in the NCAA Tournament three times, 1991, 1995, and 2011. The school has never won an NCAA Tournament game.

The NJIT’s Men’s basketball program only started competing in the NCAA’s Division I in 2006. The team lost an NCAA record 51 games in a row from 2007 to 2009 and has never appeared in an NCAA Tournament.

Where can I bet on March Madness in New Jersey?

Eight of the nine Atlantic City casinos have retail sportsbooks up and running. Learn more about March Madness in Atlantic City here.

Caesars’ customers can place bets at The Book at Bally’s (Caesars Sportsbook is available for mobile/online platforms). The sister properties are connected.

Monmouth Park and the Meadowlands Racetrack each have a sportsbook, too. Those watching the games from home, and as long as you are in NJ, can place their bets using one of 17 NJ sportsbook apps.

NJ online sportsbooks

Online Sportsbook	Land-Based Affiliate	Sports betting partner(s)	iOS app	Android app	Available Bonus
DraftKings	Resorts AC	Kambi	Yes	Yes	$25 in free bets
William Hill	Monmouth	NA	Yes	Yes	$50 free bet
Fox Bet	Resorts AC	NA	Yes	Yes	$20 + Up to $100 free cash
FanDuel	Meadowlands	Betfair/IGT	Yes	Yes	Up to $1,000 risk-free bet
PointsBet	Meadowlands	NA	Yes	Yes	2x up to $500 free bets
Caesars	Caesars AC	Scientific Games	Yes	Yes	$10 free
BetMGM Sports	Borgata AC	IGT	Yes	Yes	$500 deposit match
SugarHouse	Monmouth Park	Kambi	Yes	Yes	Up to $250
Golden Nugget sportsbook	Golden Nugget	SBTech/Scientific Games	Yes	Yes	Up to $50 risk-free bet
888 Sport	Caesars	Kambi	Yes	Yes	$10 free
Hard Rock	Hard Rock AC	GiG	Yes	Yes	$100 free bet
Resorts	Resorts AC	SBTech	Yes	Yes	Up to $250 match bet
BetAmerica	Golden Nugget	SBTech	Yes	Yes	100% up to $500
Borgata Sports	Borgata AC	GVC	Yes	Yes	Up to $250 risk-free bet
Bet365 NJ	Hard Rock AC	NA	Yes	Yes	Up to $100 match bet
TheScore Bet	Monmouth	Bet.Works	Yes	Yes	Up to $100 match bet
Unibet Sportsbook	Hard Rock AC	NA	Yes	Yes	$20 + Up to $250 risk-free bet
Wynn Sports	Caesars AC	GPGS/Sci Games	Yes	Yes	NA

NJ sportsbook locations

Casino/racetrack	Sportsbook	Sports betting partner(s)	Open?
Borgata	Borgata Race & Sports Bar	IGT	Yes
Resorts	DraftKings Sportsbook at Resorts	DraftKings/Kambi; SBTech	Yes
Ocean Resort	William Hill Sportsbook @ Ocean Resort	William Hill	Yes
Monmouth Park	Monmouth Park Sports Book by William Hill	William Hill	Yes
Meadowlands	FanDuel Sportsbook	Betfair/FanDuel/IGT	Yes
Harrah's	The Book	Scientific Games	Yes
Hard Rock	Hard Rock Sportsbook	GiG	Yes
Golden Nugget	The Sportsbook	SBTech	Yes
Bally's	Wild Wild West Sportsbook	Scientific Games	Yes
Tropicana	William Hill Sports Book at Tropicana Atlantic City	William Hill	Yes

March Madness betting trends

Unlike the Super Bowl where it comes down to one game, March Madness betting is spread over several weeks with a sports betting handle that will easily top the $34,894,900 wagered on Super Bowl betting in NJ. Here are some March Madness betting trends that help paint a picture of how big this sports betting event really is:

• The American Gaming Association (AGA), prior to last year’s tournament, put out a release estimating that Americans will wager more than $10 billion on the 2018 NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
• Of that $10 billion, it was estimated that only about $300 million — or 3% — will be wagered legally.
• The AGA, based on legal analysis, noted that roughly two-thirds of states’ laws make it illegal to participate in sports pools, including filling out an NCAA tournament bracket, if there is money involved.

With sports betting now legal in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Delaware, Mississippi, among others, it will be interesting to see how that percent is impacted in 2020. Here is another eye-catching figure: The number of people who place at least one bet on NCAA tournament games could be over 100 million, says Forbes Magazine.