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How to Bet on March Madness: NCAA Tournament Betting Strategy 2025

Mike Spector

Last Updated: January 15, 2025 3:50 PM EST • 5 min 2 sec read.

UConn Huskies head coach Dan Hurley speaks to a large crowd as we analyze how to bet on March Madness.
Pictured: UConn Huskies head coach Dan Hurley speaks to a large crowd. Photo Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images.

Whether you're looking to bet on the NCAA Tournament for the first time or increase your profits from last year, our March Madness betting guide has you covered with the various trends and betting strategies for how to bet on March Madness.

There is no event in sports quite like the NCAA Tournament. Sixty-eight teams vie for a coveted national championship, with even the smallest Division I conferences sending at least one representative.

Most betting sites have just three teams – Duke, Auburn, and Iowa State – with odds shorter than +1000 to win the national championship. Betting on the eventual champion and odds to make the Final Four are just two ways bettors can make huge profits during the tournament.

Here is our March Madness betting guide for the 2025 tournament to help you nail all of your March Madness picks.

How to bet on March Madness

Numerous opportunities exist to wager on traditional point spreads, moneylines, and totals with 67 games played throughout the NCAA Tournament. However, part of the allure of March Madness is identifying the Cinderella team that will make a deep tournament run, which bettors can do in various ways with various college basketball futures bets.

Many sportsbooks will have their NCAA Tournament odds broken down by regional props, as the 68 teams are divided among East, West, Midwest, and South Regionals. Every team will have odds to win their region and advance to the Final Four, and other enticing wagers await, like who will be the first No. 1 seed to lose and how many No. 1 seeds will make the Final Four.

And if you have a conference affiliation, there are even wagers for which conference the eventual champion will come from.

March Madness betting odds explained

Point spread

Spread betting is wagering on a certain amount of points regarding the margin of victory. For example, in last year's national championship game, UConn was a 6.5-point favorite over Purdue. When the Huskies won 75-60, anyone who backed UConn at -6.5 won their bets since the final score showed UConn winning by 15 points.

Had Purdue won the game outright, or at least lost by six points or less, Boilermakers backers would have won their bets.

Over/Under

Instead of rooting for a particular side, Over/Under bets offer bettors the opportunity to bet on the number of points that will be scored in a game. More specifically, it is a wager on whether the actual total will be over or under the line offered by the sportsbook.

The UConn vs. Purdue national championship matchup had a total of 143.5, and bettors who wagered on this were choosing whether they thought the final score would be more (over) or less (under) than the posted total. Under backers cashed their tickets when the game ended with 135 total points.

Moneyline

Moneyline wagers ask bettors to decide which team will win the game outright. Take the example of UConn and Purdue, with UConn as the -294 moneyline favorite and Purdue having +238 moneyline odds. The negative sign before the college basketball odds lets bettors know that team is the favorite, and you would have to bet $294 to win $100. Of course, you'll always have to pay more for the favorite, but they're usually favored for a reason.

In this same scenario, bettors would risk $100 to win $238 betting on the underdog Boilermakers to win outright. These monetary values are just the scales used to determine payouts, but any dollar amount can be wagered.

March Madness bet types

Futures

Unlike point spread, Over/Under, and moneyline bets, which are paid out after every game, futures bets operate under a longer timeframe, such as who will win each region or what team will win the national championship. As such, these odds are usually more enticing to bettors and are typically updated after each round of March Madness.

Props

Prop wagers offer bettors different ways to bet on games, whether it be game props (ex. winning margin for a team), team props (ex. team totals), or player props, like how many points or rebounds a specific player will accrue.

Visit our best March Madness betting sites to test your skills in their free March Madness bracket challenges.

First to 15

"First to 15" bets are wagers on which team will reach the 15-point plateau before the other. These wagers offer bettors a suspense-filled first few minutes of the game, with the winners typically paid out well before halftime. 

Tournament MVP

You may have heard of the Tournament MVP prop called the Final Four Most Outstanding Player. These wagers tend to pay out very handsomely, as it is hard enough to determine which team(s) will be most successful, let alone which players on those teams will play the best.

Derivatives

Derivative wagers break down a full game into segments, most commonly first-half and second-half bets. Thus, one can wager on a team to cover, an Over/Under, or back either team on the moneyline in each half of the game at differing odds.

March Madness 2025 betting strategy

One thing that makes March Madness one of the most popular sporting events of the calendar year is the frequency of Cinderella stories, so be sure to make some March Madness upset predictions when charting your way to the Sweet Sixteen, Elite Eight, and Final Four. For example, in last year's tournament, Oakland upset one of the sport's biggest bluebloods (Kentucky).

Similarly, Sister Jean is still a household name after Loyola Chicago's Final Four run in 2018. Thus, many bettors believe the No. 1 seeds are ranked that high because they proved their dominance over an entire season. But it is also important to remember that all four No. 1 seeds have made the Final Four just once in NCAA tournament history (2008), and three No. 1 seeds have made it five times.

When filling out your printable March Madness bracket (learn how to fill out a March Madness bracket here) or making your wagers, pay attention to the location of games, as all games are played in neutral sites around the country. However, certain teams will have built-in advantages if they wind up in a region near where they play their home games.

And if we have one eye on the future, the Final Four is in San Antonio, which would give a team like Houston a clear edge if they make it that far.

However, since all NCAA tournament games are played at neutral sites, bettors should give more credence to a team's road and neutral site record from the regular season, as their built-in home-court advantages will not help them in a tournament setting.

March Madness FAQs

Who won March Madness last year?

The UConn Huskies defeated Purdue to win last year's NCAA Tournament.

When does March Madness 2025 start?

Selection Sunday takes place on Sunday, March 16, 2025. The first round of the NCAA Tournament will be played Thursday and Friday, following the First Four games on Tuesday and Wednesday.

When will March Madness be decided?

The 2025 Final Four will be held on Saturday, April 5, 2025. The National Championship Game takes place the following Monday, April 7, 2025.

Where will March Madness be played?

The 2025 Final Four and National Championship Game will be held in San Antonio, Texas, at the Alamodome.

March Madness betting odds pages

March Madness OddsMarch Madness PredictionsFinal Four OddsMarch Madness MVP Odds
March Madness Prop BetsMarch Madness Upset PicksMarch Madness Bracket GuideMarch Madness Bracket Predictions
March Madness Bracket ChallengesMarch Madness betting promos

Here are our best March Madness betting sites:

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Written By:
Mike Spector
Mike started in the sports writing industry in July 2019, and gained a lot of followers in his first year after finishing with the No. 2 overall record in an annual NFL betting competition, which made picks against the spread, and from an Over/Under and moneyline perspective. Mike is an avid fan of the NFL, MLB, tennis, and all college sports. In his opinion, March Madness is the best sporting event there is, and he's especially euphoric starting with conference tournament time in college basketball. Mike's a big advocate of "fading the public" and making plays that are contrarian, constantly citing that "there are reasons why they have those big shiny buildings in Las Vegas." When making wagers, Mike always scours the best odds at all of the major sports betting sites, where he mostly sifts through DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, and bet365. He's tried several others and is of the firm belief that bettors should not just stick to one sportsbook, as there is always likely better value to be had with the same wager. In addition, while Mike received his undergraduate degree from Villanova University, he has no issue betting against the Wildcats when it comes to college basketball wagering, and suggests other bettors should always put their “head” before their “hearts.”