March Madness odds for the 2025 tournament are already available. Auburn (+950) and Duke (+1000) are the consensus favorites.
March Madness odds
Find March Madness odds for 2025 available below at the best betting sites.
college basketball National Title odds
From the opening odds through the beginning of non-conference play, here are how March Madness odds have changed throughout the year.
| Team | April 9 | Nov. 4 | Dec. 1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duke | +1100 | +1000 | +1100 |
| Kansas | +1100 | +900 | +1100 |
| UConn | +1200 | +900 | +1500 |
| Houston | +1400 | +1400 | +1400 |
| North Carolina | +1600 | +2000 | +3000 |
| Kentucky | +1800 | +3500 | +2200 |
| Alabama | +2000 | +1000 | +1500 |
| Arizona | +2000 | +2500 | +3500 |
| Baylor | +2000 | +2000 | +4000 |
| Gonzaga | +2000 | +1700 | +1200 |
| Michigan State | +2500 | +5000 | +4000 |
| Purdue | +2500 | +4000 | +6000 |
| Tennessee | +2500 | +5000 | +2500 |
| Auburn | +3000 | +2500 | +900 |
| Iowa State | +3000 | +2000 | +2000 |
| Texas | +3500 | +6000 | +8000 |
| Creighton | +3500 | +4000 | +5000 |
| Marquette | +3500 | +6000 | +5000 |
| Arkansas | +4000 | +2500 | +5000 |
| Florida | +4000 | +6000 | +5000 |
| Villanova | +4000 | +10000 | +20000 |
| Illinois | +4000 | +6000 | +6000 |
| Wisconsin | +4000 | +15000 | +12500 |
| Maryland | +5000 | +10000 | +10000 |
March Madness Locations
First Four
Dayton, Ohio, UD Arena (March 19 – 20)
West
San Francisco, CA at Chase Center (March 27 and 29)
South
Atlanta, GA at State Farm Arena (March 28 and 30)
East
Newark, New Jersey at Prudential Center (March 27 and 29)
Midwest
Indianapolis, Indiana at Lucas Oil Stadium (March 28 and 30)
Final Four
San Antonio, Texas at Alamodome (April 5 and 7)
March Madness betting sites
DraftKings Sportsbook
DraftKings Sportsbook offers one of the biggest and best menus of bets on March Madness odds. Consistently rated as one of the best betting apps no matter where you look, DraftKings Sportsbook has one of the leading live-betting interfaces, which is key in a fast-moving sport like March Madness.
Bet365 Sportsbook
Bet365 Sportsbook is fast becoming a player in the U.S. market after building a sizable customer base overseas. Look for plenty of March Madness odds come tournament time, and keep bet365 in mind when looking to bet on smaller sports that may not be as popular here as in Europe.
BetMGM Sportsbook
The self-proclaimed king of sportsbooks, BetMGM Sportsbook’s generous boosts and bonuses can be paired with March Madness odds for tons of added value. Look for a competitive college basketball offering from BetMGM that includes props, game odds, and futures, and try to find applicable boosts from its menu of promos.
FanDuel Sportsbook
FanDuel Sportsbook has more than its share of March Madness odds available as well. It didn’t become the national market leader by chance. The app looks great, has a robust selection of markets, and always offers a wide selection of March Madness bets, including early futures odds. Look for one of the best same-game parlay menus involving any NCAA tournament game.
Here is how the FanDuel website looked ahead of March Madness this past season.
How the NCAA Tournament works
March Madness is a 68-team, single-elimination tournament that annually crowns the NCAA Division I men’s college basketball national champion.
The event is aptly named, considering it features a frenetic 67 games over a 19-day period. The NCAA reveals participating schools on “Selection Sunday” along with seeding and brackets.
The annual college basketball rite of spring is sports betting’s most prolific multi-day event. Below, you’ll find the current betting odds for the favorites to win the NCAA tournament, along with key tournament details and betting strategy to help you during the month-long madness.
The first 32 teams to gain entry into the tournament do so automatically by winning their conferences. All remaining 36 slots are filled by “at-large” teams. A 10-member selection committee consisting of athletic directors and conference commissioners undergoes an arduous and multi-layered process to determine the 36 at-large teams and subsequently finalize seeding and brackets.
The committee will again employ the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) as its primary sorting method for determining at-large entrants. NET replaces the RPI (Rating Percentage Index) utilized since 1981.
The NET takes into account the following metrics:
- Game results
- Strength of schedule
- Game location
- Scoring margin
- Offensive and defensive efficiency
- Quality of wins and losses
The NCAA has a detailed, step-by-step breakdown of seeding and bracket protocol on this page of its website.
March Madness betting history
The first NCAA basketball tournament took place in 1939 in Evanston, Illinois. Since then, 37 teams have won it all. Five teams have won the tournament at least five times (Indiana, Duke, UNC, Kentucky, UCLA). Since seeding began in 1979, No. 1 seeds have won the tournament 25 times and accounted for almost 49% of all championship appearances. Just three times has a team that’s been lower than a four seed won the title. No team seeded below eighth has won, nor has such a team made a championship appearance.
Since betting lines were released for NCAA tournament games in 1985, underdogs in March Madness odds have covered 44% of the time, winning outright 29% of the time. Games have gone under the total 56% of the time. Since 2010, 70% of games have gone under the total, and favorites have covered in seven out of 10 games. Three teams have won more than one championship since 2010 (Duke, UConn, Villanova). None have won back-to-back titles (despite Butler and UNC appearing in back-to-back title games).
Since 2000, the top overall seed has made the championship game just four times, but it won the game three of those times (75%). In total, top overall seeds in the tournament have comprised just 8% of the total Final Four teams (missed 13 out of 20 years). Besides No. 1 seeds, No. 2 seeds have the most championship appearances since 2000 (seven times), followed by three seeds (six times), and five and eight seeds (two).
Just 8% (52/640) of all Sweet 16 teams have been seeded 11 or lower. Only 2.8% of teams in the Elite Eight were seeded 11 or lower. Four 11 seeds advanced to the Final Four (Loyola Chicago, 2018; VCU, 2011; George Mason, 2006; LSU, 1986). UMBC and Fairleigh Dickinson are the only No. 16 seeds to upset No. 1 seeds in the tournament’s history (2018 and 2023), and just eight 15 seeds have prevailed (5%). In 2015, two 15 seeds upset two seeds (25% of all such upsets), and two 14s upset threes.
Exercise caution with historical data when filling out brackets and betting on March Madness. Stats should be used in the long run. But when choosing individual games, study matchup statistics. The most important thing to remember, though, is this is March Madness. Anything can (and will) happen.
Tournament betting strategies
The historical ATS data for each team in tournament play is just one of countless data points that can constitute March Madness odds betting research. Here are some other factors that can hold considerable relevance:
- A team’s late-season performances, including in its conference tournament
- Key injuries
- A team’s defensive proficiency, as this typically has more carryover into tournament play than a high-powered offense
- “Fading the public” when the line appears to be significantly affected by a team’s popularity, as opposed to actual recent performance
Examine various tournament-specific historical trends, such as how high-seeded mid-majors have done in each round regarding straight-up wins and losses.
Another overarching data set that could prove highly valuable is the performance of each seed in each round versus the spread.
Where can I bet on March Madness?
Bettors located within the following states will be able to place a legal sports wager on March Madness games:
| State | Online Sports Betting? | Retail Sports Betting? |
|---|---|---|
| Arizona | Yes | Yes |
| Arkansas | Yes | Yes |
| Colorado | Yes | Yes |
| Connecticut | Yes | Yes |
| Delaware | No | Yes |
| Florida | Yes | Yes |
| Illinois | Yes | Yes |
| Indiana | Yes | Yes |
| Iowa | Yes | Yes |
| Kansas | Yes | Yes |
| Kentucky | Yes | Yes |
| Louisiana | Yes | Yes |
| Maine | Yes | No |
| Maryland | Yes | Yes |
| Massachusetts | Yes | Yes |
| Michigan | Yes | Yes |
| Mississippi | No | Yes |
| Montana | No | Yes |
| Nevada | Yes | Yes |
| New Hampshire | Yes | Yes |
| New Jersey | Yes | Yes |
| New Mexico | No | Yes |
| New York | Yes | Yes |
| North Carolina | Yes | Yes |
| Ohio | Yes | Yes |
| Oregon | Yes (but not on college sports) | Yes |
| Pennsylvania | Yes | Yes |
| Rhode Island | Yes | Yes |
| South Dakota | No | Yes |
| Tennessee | Yes | No |
| Vermont | Yes | No |
| Virginia | Yes | Yes |
| Washington, D.C. | Yes | Yes |
| West Virginia | Yes | Yes |
| Wisconsin | No | Yes |
| Wyoming | Yes | No |