The Court Is In Session: March Madness Legal Wagering To Reach Record $3.3B
Tuesday, March 17, 2026 at 05:23PM By Barry Janoff
March 17, 2026: Dozens of teams, hundreds of players, millions of brackets and more than $3 billion in legal wagers.
People in the U.s. will legally wager a record $3.3 billion on the NCAA Div I Women’s and Men’s Basketball Tournaments this year, a 54% increase over the past three years, according to the American Gaming Assn.
“The continued growth reflects the strength of the legal state- and tribal-regulated sports betting market and increasing consumer confidence in regulated wagering options.”
“March Madness is the highlight of the college basketball season and fans are gearing up for a month of tournament action,” Bill Miller, American Gaming Assn. president and CEO, said via the organization.
“Fans continue to engage with legal, state- and tribal-regulated sports betting in record numbers during one of the biggest moments on the sports calendar.”
The American Gaming Assn. did not share which teams people wagering on March Madness would win the Men’s Final Four or Women’s Final Four.
“The estimate includes legal wagers only in U.S. legal jurisdictions,” according to the American Gaming Assn.
By comparison, people in the U.S. wageed a record $1.76 billion legally on Super Bowl LX, according to the American Gaming Assn. .
The $3.3 billion March Madness figure and $3.1 billion Super Bowl figures are only part of the estimated total amount that could be wagered this season.
As it did when gauging wagering for Super Bowl LX and the 2025 Men’s and Women’s Tournaments, the American Gaming Assn. said its 2026 March Madness analysis is based on the monthly sports betting revenue reports released by states, and only bets placed on the NCAA tournaments.
In 2023, the American Gaming Assn. report indicated that $15.5 billion could be wagered on the NCAA tournaments, but that estimate also included bracket pools and wagers with unlicensed sportsbooks and bookmakers.
Sensor Tower data compiled by the American Gaming Assn. shows that prediction market platforms have rapidly increased their presence in sports betting advertising. While digital ad impressions for online sportsbooks declined nearly 14% in 2025, impressions tied to prediction market advertising surged dramatically.
Commercial gaming revenue reached an annual record of $71.92 billion in 2024, including a record nationwide sports betting revenue of $13.71 billion.
According to the American Gaming Assn. “With the expansion of prediction market advertising, nearly one in five (15%) digital sports betting ads seen by consumers last year did not comply with state-mandated responsible gaming messages. Kalshi alone became the third largest sports betting advertiser by digital impressions in 2025.”
Some 43% of digital sports betting ads seen by U.S. consumers did not comply with state gaming regulations requiring responsible gaming messaging since they came from prediction market operators.
Kalshi is currently the most visible sports betting brand by digital ad impressions, with consumers exposed to its advertising approximately 5.2 billion times this year, compared with 2.9 billion impressions for FanDuel, the next most frequent sportsbook advertiser, according to the American Gaming Assn.
Back to Home Page