The University of Kentucky, a highly-regarded college hoops school, was the most popular choice of bracket participants. It defeated Saint Peter’s University of New Jersey. However, Saint Peter’s shocked the Kentucky Wildcats by winning overtime 85-79. The University of Richmond defeated heavily-favored University of Iowa while New Mexico State University beat the University of Connecticut.
According to PlayUSA data, more than 101,000 brackets created using ESPN are now worthless because they chose Iowa and Kentucky as the final championship games. PlayUSA reported that ESPN had received more than 17,000,000 brackets for March Madness this year. About 8.8 million, or 52%, predicted Kentucky and Iowa would remain in the tournament. These bets are now over.
According to NCAA Friday, there are still less than 200 perfect brackets. ESPN has 161.
While the gamblers who bet on Kentucky, Iowa, or Connecticut to win might have lost thousands or hundreds of dollars, they still may win some money, Eli Hershkovich, a college sports betting expert, told CBS MoneyWatch. Hershkovich explained that it will be necessary to wager on each individual game throughout the tournament, and win those wagers.
He said, “You can make that back, but for those who are new to the subject and want to put that price down again, it will take time to win it back.”
Bettors place wagers on college basketball and create brackets using over a dozen platforms days before the tournament starts. FanDuel and DraftKings are popular platforms for placing bets. Others use ESPN, Yahoo Sports or CBS Sports to complete their brackets. The brackets are used by fans to predict winners and win cash prizes. This can be done through an office pool organized by their employer, or with friends.
Because the upsets in Connecticut, Iowa, and Kentucky occurred at a time when Americans were expected to place record numbers of bets on this tournament because of the legalization of mobile betting in many large states. According to the American Gaming Association, around 45 million Americans will place bets on March Madness worth $3.1 billion.
Because sportsbooks keep these numbers secret, it’s hard to estimate how much money the upsets cost.
Among the Yahoo Fantasy brackets, there were only 14 remaining perfect brackets after the Kentucky and Iowa losses. Yahoo Fantasy accounted for 98% of all brackets. They chose Kentucky to beat Saint Peter’s. Yahoo Sports reported.
Hershkovich stated that Kentucky fans will be more upset by the loss than the other two upsets, because many brackets showed Kentucky defeating Saint Peter’s and winning all of the tournament.
FanDuel said that the Kentucky game did not spell doom for everyone. FanDuel reported that one user placed $2,000 on Saint Peters, and won $24,000.
FanDuel stated that while there weren’t large bets on the game there were many small bets with big odds that made St. Peters fans across the country happy.
According to Kenny White, a Sportsline analyst, the second round of the tournament will begin Saturday. Bettors should be cautious when picking winners.
White stated, “It’s March Madness” and that this year will be even more maddening than usual. “And we’ll see plenty more.”
