Illegal World Cup Streams Fueled Gambling Ads
Alex Harper • Aug 20, 2026 
Reviewed By Paul Jacobs
Casino Expert
A study done by the American Gaming Associated (AGA) was released on Monday, showing that 47 million American adults will bet on the NCAA men’s tournament. They will spend $8.5 billion on the March Madness tournament. This means that for every five American adults, one will place a bet on any of the events happening during this tournament.
The NCAA March Madness tournament will have the top 68 basketball teams that will go against each other. It will run from March 19 until April 8 2019. Even though it may not be simple to win from a bet that was placed on this tournament, the number of people wagering on the event is significant.
NCAA March Madness Tournament by Numbers
According to the report, out of the 47 million bettors, only 40 million will fill out a bracket. From the $8.5 billion that they will wager the bettors will wager $4.6 billion on the 149 million tournament brackets. The average bettor will fill out at least four brackets. Out of the 47 million, 4.1 million bettors will choose to place their wager at a casino sportsbook or bet using a legal mobile betting app.
18 million of the bettors will spend $3.9 billion at a sportsbook, online sports betting sites, a bookie or a friend. Among the 47 million gamblers, 29% will wager on the Duke to win the tournament. Other teams, they will bet on to will are Gonzaga at 9%, North Carolina at 8%, Kentucky at 7%, Virginia and Michigan at 5%.
Illegal Gambling
From the 47 million identified gamblers, 5.2 million of them will use illegal online sites and other online avenues to place a wager on the March Madness tournament. While 2.4 million will do it with an illegal bookie.
This is because the most popular way people bet on the sport is through below-board betting like office pool where colleagues get against each other. What’s more, only eight states offer regulated and legal sports betting. Which then leaves the other states bettors to want to find avenues to take part in the March Madness NCAA men’s tournament. Still, 23 states are currently considering legalising sports betting.
