As the 2019 edition of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament builds to a dramatic finish, the American Gaming Association (AGA) has published additional findings from its recent survey tracking March Madness wagering patterns.
It found that of the 47 million American adults who planned to wager on or fill out a bracket for March Madness, only 10 per cent of bettors have their favored team still in play. Out of that figure, five per cent picked the University of Virginia; four per cent backed Michigan State University; one per cent selected Texas Tech University; and just 0.009 per cent chose Auburn University – meaning just one out of the 11,002 people surveyed made this pick.
Of significance, every state represented in the final four – as well as the host state of Minnesota – have sports betting legislation pending. Furthermore, nearly 6-in-10 Americans, not just bettors, said they would find the final four games more entertaining to watch on TV if they had bet on one of them to win the tournament.
In the run-up to March Madness, the AGA’s research originally found that bettors favored Duke to win, followed by Gonzaga, North Carolina, Kentucky, Virginia and Michigan.
