Best March Madness Bracket Contests to Join in 2023

Apr 3, 2023 • PickBoss

If you want to do some March Madness bracket betting, then you will be able to find plenty of options in 2023. Very few events equal the excitement or anticipation of the NCAA Tournament, and filling a bracket out is one of the best parts of the entire contest.

Entering a bracket pool is a bit different than simply betting on the NCAA Tournament, and the rules are typically much different. You can find many different ways to enter an NCAA bracket contest, but the best option will always be a simple bracket pool.

Sportsbooks will always try and get you to wager on the NCAA tournament, but several of the top sportsbook operators will also offer a March Madness bracket contest. This might cost you a very small fee, while some top operators will allow you to do some March Madness bracket betting without even wagering any money.

March Madness Bracket Contests to Join in 2023

Even if you aren’t going to enter a bracket contest at a large sports betting operator, you simply need to find a way to do some March Madness bracket gambling of some kind.

In this article, we will provide you with the best March Madness bracket gambling tips for 2023, whether you are a new bettor or an experienced one. The brackets will come online on Selection Sunday (March 12th), so make sure to be ready and use these tips to your advantage.

What Are March Madness Bracket Contests?

March Madness bracket contests are a fun way to make predictions about which teams will win each game of the NCAA basketball tournaments. Some bracket contests are friendly wagers while others have financial implications for the winners or top finishers.

Before the rise of legalized online sports betting in the United States, taking part in a bracket challenge was one of the few ways people could take part in wagering on sports.

An elite day of basketball awaits. pic.twitter.com/mTAoC8g3Vy
— March Madness Men’s Basketball TV (@MM_MBB_TV) March 25, 2023

Workplaces and friendship groups alike filled out brackets for fun, while some bracket challenges required a cash buy-in with prizes for the top three winners.

Most sports news outlets, such as ESPN, CBS Sports, and Yahoo provide online copies of the bracket, even allowing you to submit multiple brackets into their contests. If you can outscore your competition in those events, you can win massive prizes.

How Do March Madness Bracket Challenges Work?

Before you enter a March Madness bracket contest, it would be a good idea to know how these contests work. Filling out a March Madness bracket is something that people throughout the country do, but many simply do it as a way to pass the time.

Bracket challenges require picking a winner of every game throughout the NCAA tournament. Because there are 63 games played during the tournament (with 67 available if your pool includes the “First Four” play-in games) every game can make a difference. An underdog going on a run can make or break your entire bracket.

You can also do some March Madness bracket betting by entering a pool for a chance to take home the largest pot. You can enter a March Madness bracket pool that someone in your group of friends puts on, or you can look to compete against people that you don’t even know.

There can be many different rules regarding a bracket pool, but there will always be some similarities between them. You will find that you will earn more points for correctly picking games the later that you get into the NCAA Tournament, and picking the NCAA Tournament winner will come with a huge total.

Typically the final pot of a bracket contest is based on how many people initially sign up and what the charge is when signing up. Be sure to know and understand the contest rules so you can know how the points are tallied.

How Are March Madness Bracket Points Scored?

March Madness Bracket Points are scored differently depending on the settings used when setting up the contest. Some pools will give one point total for every correct game. However, others will use an escalating point system.

In the latter option, first round (and play-in) games will score one point for a correct pick. Second round games are worth two points, Sweet 16 games are worth four points, Elite Eight games are worth eight points, Final Four games are worth 16 points, and the Championship Game can win a massive 32 points.

The rules are often up to the players, but most users of the larger pools will use the second option.

Where Should I Bet on March Madness?

Betting on March Madness can be done nearly anywhere, provided sports betting is legal in your state. Even in states where betting isn’t legal, there are often exceptions for things like March Madness bracket contests. When in doubt, check your state’s sports betting guidelines.

Below, we’ve listed a few of the top options for betting on March Madness.

BetMGM Perfect Bracket Sweepstakes

BetMGM is a sports betting operator that is known to offer a contest focused on a March Madness bracket for money. This could always change from year to year, but BetMGM has been pretty consistent with offering this type of contest.

The NCAA brackets contest from BetMGM is a bit different, though, as the ultimate goal is to fill out a perfect bracket. You have a better chance of being struck by lightning twice than filling out a perfect bracket, but it’s still fun to shoot for.

You will get extremely rich from BetMGM Sportsbook if you can do the unthinkable, but there are other ways to make money with March Madness bracket betting. Smaller prizes are awarded to the player with the best bracket in the contest.

BetMGM is a sportsbook operator that always does a great job of coming up with unique opportunities, and that’s the case with the bracket challenge March Madness.

Use DraftKings in the Sweet 16

DraftKings Sportsbook is another operator with a bracket challenge, March Madness, but it tends to do things differently. You aren’t typically going to find a bracket contest from DraftKings for the entire NCAA Tournament, but you need to visit this operator after the tournament has started.

DraftKings Sportsbook has consistently offered a March Madness bracket for money contests after the tournament reached the Sweet 16. This is typically when most people have realized that their initial picks were wrong, and plenty of people are looking for a second chance.

This unique offering from DraftKings Sportsbook is a great opportunity to get into a bracket contest and find a way to win some money after the craziness of the first two rounds. This is another contest that isn’t going to cost you anything to enter, but you will be able to cash in.

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Tips For Bracket Contests

If you are going to get into some bracket contests, there are some tips out there that can help you succeed. It is important to remember that the NCAA Tournament is wildly unpredictable, which is the biggest reason the event is so popular.

If you are going to win some money in a bracket contest, then you have to be willing to take some risks along the way. This doesn’t mean that you should only bet on underdogs when filling out your bracket because you still need some top teams to move on and advance.

Another tip when entering a bracket contest is to fill out different brackets for every contest that you enter. You are typically going to want to make the same picks with every bracket, but it’s a good idea to change up the team that you have in the Final Four and winning the title.

It’s also a good idea to only enter the bracket contests that have a very small buy-in, or it’s an even better idea to enter the contests from the sportsbooks that are free to enter. There is a huge payout possible on the other end, but you will find that winning a bracket contest is never easy.

Another tip to remember when entering a bracket contest is that you want to stay away from picking your favorite team to pull off a ton of upsets throughout the tournament. Be sure to do your research and then make the best decisions based on what you find in your research.

Other NCAA Betting Opportunities

Entering a bracket contest is always going to be a popular option when it comes to the NCAA Tournament, but that’s not the only way to get involved. You will also find some unique gambling opportunities, including getting in on an NCAA Tournament square.

Of course, you can also stick to the most basic way of making money on the NCAA Tournament: betting on individual games. Even though this tournament can be unpredictable at times, doing some research will give you a chance to cash in.

Betting the moneyline is a form of bet in which you simply pick the winning team of a game, which might be the best option to pursue in the NCAA Tournament. You could also look at betting against the spread, but things tend to get pretty tight when it comes to March Madness.

You also don’t even have to focus on picking the winning teams when it comes to the NCAA Tournament, as prop betting is going to be wildly available. Betting on player props is a unique way to wager on sports, and you will find many options when it comes to March Madness.

Getting into a bracket pool can be a great way to cash in big if you can win, but you will also face plenty of competition. Look at betting on the NCAA Tournament and put yourself in control of the betting.

March Madness Bracket Contests FAQ

What are the odds of completing a perfect March Madness bracket?

The odds of completing a perfect March Madness bracket are infinitessimally small, with a probability of 1 in 9,223,372,036,854,775,808. No major organized contest has ever reported a perfect bracket. If you filled out one bracket per second and each bracket was different, it would take more than 293 billion years to fill out every one and find a bracket with each game picked correctly.

How many March Madness brackets are filled out every year?

The NCAA estimates a range between 60-100 million brackets are filled out every year during March Madness.

How many games do I need to pick correctly to win a March Madness bracket contest?

The number of games you’ll need to pick correctly to win a March Madness bracket contest will vary based on the size of your pool. If you don’t have many players, you won’t need to win as many, but with 67 available games, you’ll likely need to hit more than half the games correctly to win.

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