5 Best Free March Madness Bracket Contests For 2023
The 2023 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, or March Madness, is underway and will begin in earnest on March 16 with the 64-team playoff. Along with March Madness come myriad contests, as bracket-mania sweeps the nation.
Which March Madness bracket contests should you enter in order to win big prizes? We at the TheLines will circle the best free bracket contests once they are announced ahead of the 2023 Big Dance.
TheLines’ March Madness Contest
TheLines actually has two separate March Madness contests this year. The first is our $500 March Hoops Leaderboard Challenge. Here are the details:
- The contest is a points-based scoring format, using moneyline odds. The larger the underdog, the more points you’ll receive if it wins.
- Make March Madness picks every day for the first two rounds. Points accumulate toward a four-day leaderboard. The top three scores win Amazon gift cards ($250, $150, $100).
- Users can sign up before the Sweet 16 games begin. Sign up now and get an email reminder before the first game on Thursday.
TheLines’ second NCAA basketball tournament contest this year is our $100 Big Hoops Tourney Challenge. Pick games each day this week for a shot at a $100 Amazon gift card. You will be tasked with correctly picking the spread winner and over under on games.
BetMGM $10 Million Bracket Challenge
BetMGM is bringing back its $10 million free to play bracket challenge.
“BetMGM has a lot to offer sports fans during the year’s most exciting month of basketball,” BetMGM CEO Adam Greenblatt said. “We’ve built phenomenal destination sportsbooks and now, with our mobile app being available in more markets than ever, we look forward to matching the excitement of the season with a major bracket contest.”
BetMGM users can win $10 million by predicting the perfect bracket for March Madness. The free-to-play contest is available in the mobile app to complete their entries. If no one guesses a perfect bracket, the player that accumulates the most points throughout the tournament will be rewarded with the $100,000 guaranteed prize.
BetMGM uses a doubling system for their points, starting at one point for the first round and progressing to 32 for the championship. No other prizes will be awarded besides the top prize, so you’ll have to play for the win. Only one entry per BetMGM account is allowed.
Plus, new customers to BetMGM receive $1,000 in bonus bets for March Madness.
Free Bet365 Bracket Challenge
Bet365 is getting in on the free bracket challenge fun this year. Contestants can win up to $10 million plus more cash prizes. The Bet365 Bracket Challenge game is available to new and eligible users. You must be 21 to enter the contest and only one entry is allowed per person.
The aforementioned $10,000,000 jackpot prize is for users that correctly pick the perfect bracket, shared between multiple winners. The top 5,000 players on the leaderboard will also see prizes based on points earned for correct picks.
DraftKings Free Bracket Beach Challenge
DraftKings is offering another free bracket challenge this year and the prize pool for 2023 is at $50,000.
The DraftKings free bracket challenge is a pretty standard bracket picking contest. The scoring doubles for each round as follows:
- First Round: 10 points
- Second Round: 20 points
- Sweet 16: 40 points
- Elite 8: 80 points
- Final Four: 160 points
- National Championship: 320 points
Sign up and enter the bracket battle at DraftKings here.
Contestants can only make one entry. Be aware that individuals in jurisdictions that bar betting on in-state college teams won’t be able to pick such teams in the game.
DraftKings has flattened out this year’s payouts to the following format:
- 1st: $5,000
- 2nd-3rd: $1,000
- 4th-5th: $500
- 6th-15th: $100
- 16th-115th: $50
- 116th-755th: $25
Even those who finish 2756th – 7755th will receive something: a crisp George Washington in their account.
Coors Light March Hoops Challenge
The Coors Light March Hoops Challenge is run by DraftKings Sportsbook. There is a NCAA tourney Day 1 and a NCAA tourney Day 2 version of this contest.
Both contests follow a similar format. You will be asked questions about each day’s games. For instance, here are some questions for Day 2.
- Which team will score the most points on Day 2 of the NCAA tournament? Marquette, Memphis, Purdue or Gonzaga
- Out of these four teams, which one will make the most 3-point field goals? Xavier, Michigan State, Baylor or Indiana
- Will Creighton, Kentucky and Miami all win? Yes or no
This is a free pool from DraftKings and features a $5,000 prize pool.
Honorable mentions
ESPN Bracket Challenge: Win your share of a $75,000 prize pool. Ten randomly drawn winners will take home the $5,000 grand prize. Twenty-five randomly drawn winners will go home with $1,000 in honor of this being the 25th anniversary of ESPN running the contest. View this contest here.
Capital One/NCAA.com Bracket Challenge: Fill out up to 10 unique brackets, picking winners of every game. Capital One, the NCAA’s official partner, will also run a game called “Starting Lineup” allowing players to “pick teams and trade them throughout the tournament as their values change every round.” Check these games out here.
Yahoo Fantasy $25K Tourney Pick ‘Em: The Yahoo Fantasy $25K Tourney Pick ‘Em is also one of the top annual offers for the Big Dance. Pick the winners of each NCAA tournament game once the brackets are set.
Players will be awarded points by correctly picking game winners. Yahoo uses a standard doubling system for their scoring.
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