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Our basketball betting expert introduces the best March Madness betting sites to use when placing your bets on the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
Best March Madness Betting Sites
Fanatics – Score big with Fan Cash
Caesars – Huge new customer offer
FanDuel – Amazing March Madness props
BetMGM – Huge range of markets
ESPN BET – Intuitive mobile app and live streaming
1. Fanatics Sportsbook
You can bet that college hoops will be a big part of Fanatics Sportsbook from the First Four games to the final championship. This sportsbook is unique due to its FanCash loyalty program, which awards site credit based on your betting habits. Get 5% in FanCash on same-game parlays, 3% on parlays, and 1% on straight bets and odds boosts. While many users convert their FanCash to bonus bets, they can also use it to buy official merch.
2. Caesars Sportsbook
Caesars is a go-to betting site for your March Madness bets. Offering lines on a huge variety of games and sports from around the world, college basketball is no exception.
A quick visit to the basketball section of their online sportsbook reveals moneyline, spread, and totals lines for every D1 NCAA game.
Best of all, the number of markets offered on these smaller events rivals that offered on the biggest March Madness games. If you want to bet alternate spread, halves, or team props, you’ll have options at the ready.
3. FanDuel Sportsbook
FanDuel is one of the premier sportsbooks in the country, with a streamlined mobile offering, and super expansive and in depth betting markets.
With a wealth of knowledge in the fantasy sports game, they provide an excellent March Madness betting experience with a bracket pool and bracket pick ’em competition.
4. BetMGM Sportsbook
BetMGM Promotional Offers Not Available in Mississippi, New York, Nevada,Ontario, or Puerto Rico
One of the nation’s most popular sportsbooks, the MGM name has helped gain attention, and their high standards are reflected in their sportsbook. This includes competitive odds and lines for all available college basketball games, as well as a variety of bets as the tournament plays out.
BetMGM is one of the best for March Madness, due to the tournament specials on offer, extensive props and live offerings on every game of the tournament.
Plentiful promotions are on show throughout the year, and this doesn’t differ for the NCAA tournament. Take advantage of the 33% Odds Boost Token on March Matchup college basketball games.
5. ESPN BET
ESPN BET’s relative newness to the market doesn’t stop it from being one of the best March Madness betting apps available. With the nation’s best set to battle it out, the worldwide leader in sports will be your place to wager come March Madness.
Betting on March Madness 2025?
How We Chose the Best March Madness Betting Sites
Deciding where to bet on March Madness online can be tricky, so we compiled the best betting sites in this guide. But how did we go about choosing the best March Madness betting sites?
The following points are some of the most important factors we considered. You can also keep these points in mind when deciding which betting site to use for your NCAA March Madness picks.
March Madness Offers
Sports betting sites may offer sign-up bonuses and existing promotions that are solely based around March Madness.
These may be enhanced odds bets, ranging from picks such as a certain team to win March Madness, to a certain team to reach a specific stage of the tournament.
For example, they might increase the March Madness odds of Kansas to win the NCAA tournament to +1000 as part of a sign-up offer, or give you odds of +600 for Houston to reach the Elite Eight.
These types of offers are good as they allow you to bet on certain markets before March Madness has even started, which then allows you to focus on all of the other markets available as the competition progresses.
March Madness Deposit-Match Bonus
Deposit-match bonuses are one of the most common sign-up offers around, and is one of the sign-up offers you are most likely to encounter ahead of the 2025
NCAA Tournament.
Deposit-match bonuses are where the sportsbook matches the initial deposit you make into your account. For example, if your initial deposit is $200, you may be given one or times two that amount to bet with in bonus bets.
Although, it’s vital you remember that your betting sites will always set a maximum amount they are allowed to give you as a bonus.
This kind of offer is great as it allows you to bet with a lot more money than you initially deposited into your account in the first place.
NCAA Tournament Second Chance Bets
Second chance bets are one of the easiest sign-up offers to understand, and ones that allow you to be a bit more risky with your first bet if you want to. Fancy one of the smaller schools to land an early upset? A second chance bet could be ideal for backing them.
Simply put, second chance bets are when your sportsbook refunds your first bet in the form a bonus bet should it lose. If your first bet doesn’t make you money you will then have the funds available to take another shot at placing a winning wager without having to deposit more cash.
Whether it be betting on the Final Four or the Elite Eight, second chance bets allow you to bet on a range of NCAA March Madness games knowing you’ll have another chance to win if your first bet loses.
March Madness Bonus Bets
Bonus bets are another popular sign-up offer used by sports betting sites, with the idea behind them being that they allow you to place bets without the risk of losing any money.
These types of sign-up offers are great as they allow you to place more riskier bets given that there’s no negative consequence of your bet losing.
For example, you could use your bonus bet to back one of the underdogs in the March Madness Final Four as you’ll get bonus bets back should it lose, but a strong reward should it win.
It’s key to remember that some sports betting sites will make it so your bonus bets are only valid on certain March Madness markets, however most of the time, you’ll be free to use them on whichever market you wish, subject to certain minimum odds.
Check Out the Best Sports Betting Sites and Apps
In-Play Betting
In-Play betting involves wagering on an event after it has started, and up until its conclusion. For example, if you placed a bet on the Duke Blue Devils to win at half-time of their game, this would be an in-play bet.
Live-Streaming
The live streaming feature allows bettors to watch the game they are betting on. On the online sportsbook site, the game will be shown whilst you make your selections for in-play bets.
Parlay Betting
A parlay bet combines two or more wagers into one bet, and the bet is dependent on all of the individual wagers winning. The benefit of this is that the total payout of the parlay is higher than individual bets on all legs of the parlay.
For example, you can combine the moneyline wager of Villanova, Baylor and UCLA, and get a higher payout than if you put three single wagers on all three teams to win the moneyline.
Same Game Parlay
A relatively new feature, but the same game parlay allows you to combine multiple bets from the same game into one bet.
For example, you could combine the Arizona Wildcats moneyline, Kyle Kriisa to score over 19.5 points, and over the total points into one wager. All of the legs in the same game parlay must win in order to payout.
Benefits of Betting on March Madness Online
Betting on March Madness online definitely has its benefits compared to betting in person.
We’ve provided some of these benefits to show exactly why it’s better to place your bets with an online sports betting site rather than at a physical sportsbook.
March Madness Bracket Pools from online sportsbooks
By betting online as opposed to in-person, you can take advantage of the March Madness bracket pools that a number of online sports betting sites have on offer.
A March Madness bracket pool is where you predict the outcome of every single MM match, from the ‘First Round’ all the way up to and including the NCAA Championship game.
Some online sports betting sites will allow you to enter your bracket into their bracket pool, offering a prize if you manage to correctly predict the outcome of every single match.
This can be a lot more convenient than running your own pool with friends, with all the printing off brackets, scoring, and general administration involved.
Choice of Markets
One of the main reasons as to why betting online is better than betting than in-person is due to the wide variety of markets online betting sites have on offer in comparison to physical sportsbooks.
Online betting sites will usually offer a wider variety of March Madness markets in comparison to physical, in-person sportsbooks.
With loads of different NCAA March Madness markets and bets available for you to wager, you can take the time to find the bets that are the best for you.
Live Streaming
A feature offered by many of the best NCAA tournament betting sites, you’ll be able to access live streaming for a larger number of March Madness games, without having to pay for streaming services.
Only some online betting sites will provide you with free live streams for NCAA tournament matches, with others requiring you to simply just be a member of their site in order to tune in.
It’s worth noting that free streaming options will vary between different online sportsbooks, with some sports betting sites requiring you to place a bet on the match that you wish to live stream in order to tune in.
Due to this, you need to do your research and locate an online sports betting site that provides you with the best streaming options for March Madness.
Convenience
Betting on March Madness online is also better than betting in-person due to how convenient and easy online sports betting sites are to use.
In a matter of seconds, you can load up your betting app or desktop site, browse through their selection of March Madness markets and place any bet you please.
Betting in-person is far less convenient than betting online as you are required to travel to your nearest sportsbook and accept the odds on offer once there.
This is even more important when betting on March Madness, as there will be a huge number of games available to bet on with loads of markets for those matches.
By betting online, you can research all of the various sports betting sites and their odds, selecting the site whose odds are superior in comparison to their competitors.
NCAA Tournament Bonus Offers and Promotions
Online betting sites will usually have a wide selection of sign-up offers and promotions available for you to choose from, with these being used to encourage people to bet on NCAA March Madness online.
Physical sportsbooks will sometimes offer March Madness sportsbook promos as well, but they are generally a lot more common with online betting sites.
By betting online, you are able to compare odds between all of the available sports betting sites, allowing you to choose the best March Madness odds on offer before placing any of your bets.
Which teams have performed the best at the NCAA Tournament?
Each college basketball season is a separate event, meaning teams change year on year. Despite that, there are many college programs that have fantastic overall track records at March Madness. Here are the five colleges that have won the most games in the annual tournament:
North Carolina: 131
Kentucky: 130
Duke: 118
Kansas: 112
UCLA: 110
The same five teams also top the charts in a number of other categories surrounding March Madness:
Tournament appearances: Kentucky: 60
Consecutive tournaments: Kansas: 35
Most Final Four appearances: North Carolina: 21
Most NCAA championships: UCLA: 11
While the past is no guarantee of future success, there’s a good chance that the programs that have lengthy March Madness resumes will continue adding lines as we move forward. Kentucky, Duke, and North Carolina have all won titles over the past decade, while UConn was the last to win March Madness in 2023.
Betting on March Madness in New York
On the whole, bettors in New York are able to place bets on college sports, including on the NCAA Tournament. However, there are limitations on the types of wagers you are allowed to place, with the following rules in place.
New York betting sites cannot offer lines on games or events involving any in-state collegiate teams.
College Player Props are not available for New York bettors.
Bettors in New York are not able to place bets on games taking place in New York. Even if two out-of-state teams are playing, if the game is happening in New York, you are unable to wager on it.
Find out more about New York sports betting
March Madness Betting FAQs
Here are FAQs to help clear up things surrounding the best March Madness betting sites:
Where can I bet on March Madness?
You can bet on March Madness as long as you’re in a state with legal sports wagering online and/or in person. You must also be in a state with legal college sports betting, as some states prohibit the practice altogether or implement certain restrictions on college sports betting (such as prohibiting betting on a college game if it occurs in-state). Note that some stays make exceptions for tournaments like March Madness, so ensure you’re aware of local laws. Popular online sportsbooks that allows users to get in on the March Madness action include Fanatics, Caesars, FanDuel, BetMGM, ESPN BET, and BetRivers.
Which website is best for college basketball betting?
One of the best college basketball betting sites is Fanatics thanks to its generous welcome offer, lucrative FanCash rewards program, and competitive March Madness odds.
Is it legal to bet on March Madness online in New York?
Yes, it is legal to bet on the NCAA Tournament online in New York. Online betting launched in the state in January 2022, with the exception being users are not allowed to bet on in-state college teams or events.
When does March Madness start and finish?
The NCAA tournament in 2025 begins with preliminary rounds on March 18th. The men’s Final Four will be at the Alamodome in San Antonio on April 7th while the women’s will occur between April 4th and 6th at the University of South Florida and Tampa Bay Sports Commission.
What is a March Madness Bracket?
The March Madness bracket is the organization system used for the NCAA Tournament. 64 teams are selected for the field and seeded 1-16 in four regions. Players select the winner of each game all the way through the National Championship game until selecting the winner of the entire tournament.
