March Madness Betting Sites in Colorado
March Madness betting in Colorado is a huge event for sports fans, rivaled only by the Super Bowl. Here’s what you need to know about March Madness wagering with Colorado online operators. See the best March Madness odds boosts & promos in the toplist below.
Best March Madness Betting Sites
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March Madness bracket contests
Filling out a bracket is a huge part of the enjoyment of March Madness. There are contests of all shapes and sizes, ranging from small office pools all the way up to massive online tournaments that pay out real prizes. Brackets start getting filled out soon after they are released on Selection Sunday. Participants in competitions must fill out the entire bracket before the first game tips off.
You receive points for correct picks, and some pools give more weight to selections that prove to be right in the later rounds. At the end of the contest, the player with the most points wins the pool, while some contests pay out several top finishers. Below find the best March Madness Bracket Contests offered to Colorado bettors in the past:
Best Free March Madness Contests
DraftKings bracket challenges
DraftKings shook things up with something a bit different than other sportsbooks with its Zero Right Bracket Challenge. In short, it’s the opposite of trying to get a perfect bracket. You’ll get points for every correct pick, but that’s not a good thing — the goal is to be as close to zero as possible when March Madness concludes. The player with the bracket closest to zero will win $100,000.
Previously, DraftKings offered suvivor pools. Instead of picking the whole tournament, start to finish, you simply pick one team per day to win their matchup. If your team wins, you move on to the next round. If your team loses, you’re out of the pool. If you advance, you simply need to pick a new team to win the next day. Repeat until you either:
- Make it all the way to the end, in which you’ll win a share of the first-place prize
- No longer have any new teams to pick and you’re out
Check the full terms and conditions and enter for free on DraftKings via the link/button below.
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FanDuel bracket challenges
FanDuel has offered a Bracket Pick ‘Em contest and a $250,000 Bracket Madness challenge, and there’s a chance customers can expect this season. The winner, which scored the most points based off their bracket, took home $100,000. The second-place finisher won $50,000. In fact, FanDuel handed out prizes to the top 1,000 finishers.
Additionally, FanDuel offered a shuffle-style contest in past seasons. It’s a way for participants to predict the Final Four teams. Each team would appear on a card, and players would shuffle the cards until they created their ideal Final Four lineup. Those who correctly picked the four teams to reach the semifinals split a $100,000 prize pool.
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BetMGM Perfect Bracket challenge
In past years, BetMGM has held a $10 million perfect bracket challenge. If you somehow filled out a perfect bracket, you would win $10 million. While that is incredibly unlikely to happen, the player with the highest-scoring bracket won a $100,000 prize.
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bet365 perfect bracket bounty
Similar to BetMGM, bet365 offered a multi-million reward if you completed a perfect bracket. While that did not happen in past seasons, the operator did hand out cash prizes to the highest-scoring brackets.
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What wagers can you place on March Madness?
There are a number of ways to get in on the action of March Madness. You can wager on the individual games, place a wager on the winner of the tournament and even place live picks as the action plays out in real time.
Here’s a look at the major wager types you’ll come across.
Moneyline: This is simple. You’re just picking the winner of a game. Favorites will have negative odds, while it’s positive odds on the underdog side.
- Virginia Tech +130
- Duke -120
Point spread: Oddsmakers install a spread on each game that essentially represents a projected margin of victory. You can take the favorite minus the points or the underdog plus the points.
- Indiana +2.5 (-110)
- Michigan State -2.5 (-110)
Totals: These are wagers that revolve around the total points scored in a game. Oddsmakers set an estimated number, and bettors decide if they expect the total to be over or under that number.
- Over 151.5 (-110)
- Under 151.5 (-110)
Props: These are additional wagering opportunities for each game on things that may or may not happen from a team perspective:
- What will be the final margin of victory?
- Which team will hit the most 3-pointers?
Parlays: You can tie together multiple game wagers on a single betting slip, and the result is a parlay. The potential return rises with each game added to the ticket, but so do the odds of hitting the parlay.
- Virginia -165
- Texas Tech -260
- Maryland -275
- Total parlay odds: +203
Futures: These are picks you can make on something that has yet to happen, such as the winner of the tournament or one of the specific regions. Odds will be listed for each team still in the hunt.
- Gonzaga +200
- Dayton +250
- Ohio State +400
Live wagering: You can still place wagers after the action has gotten underway. The live market is fast-paced, since it moves in real-time, and you’ll find a number of opportunities to choose from:
- Updated moneyline odds on the winner of the game.
- How many total points will be scored in the first half?
Top 3 sports wagering sites for March Madness
There are a number of operators Colorado residents can choose from to make their March Madness selections. Here are some of our favorites.
FanDuel Sportsbook
FanDuel has just about everything you need for wagering on college hoops. You’ll get some of the best odds, props, and futures wagers available. FanDuel’s best feature is its March Madness parlay options. Combine just about everything for team prop wagers, like point spreads, totals, futures, and more, with ease. FanDuel’s app is great for this, as it keeps things crystal clear and lets you know if some things cannot be combined within a parlay. The app also makes it easy to adjust the different legs before you submit your wager. Given the amount of games each day, FanDuel’s paryal builder feature is a hit during March Madness.
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DraftKings Sportsbook
DraftKings offers competitive odds, a wide variety of markets (specifically around the NCAA Tournament), and boasts a really intuitive app. It’s an immersive college basketball wagering experience. However, it’s best feature is March Madness futures. You can select a team to make the Sweet 16, Elite Eight, Final Four, or title game. Odds are updated in real-time, so you can get some great value.
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Caesars Sportsbook
When it comes to operators rewarding users, Caesars is among the best. You can earn Caesars rewards points whenever you use the app to wager, and those points can be redeemed for things like hotels and experiences. Where Caesars truly shines, though, is with its prop boosts during March Madness. New customers and returning users will be greeted with a number of boost around prop wagers as a way to get more bang for your buck. These boosts can be used on single-leg wagers, parlays, future picks, and more.
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March Madness betting tips
The sheer number of games on tap is part of what makes March Madness so special, but it can also make it seem a little intimidating from a gambling perspective. When you have so many choices in front of you, it can be tough to decide where to begin.
Keep your cool and remember to pick your spots. There’s no reason to wager on all of the games. Instead, you can zero in on the ones you like the most and focus on breaking those contests down. It’s easier to dive in and do more research for a specific game or two rather than trying to cram for wagering on every single game within the bracet. Once you have some games selected, here are some betting tips you can use.
1. Understand the odds and line moves
Each game will have odds attached, and you can quickly gain a sense of the overall strength of the two teams involved just by looking at them. In addition, keep an eye on any movement in the odds from the time they are released until you’re ready to place bets. This can be a great clue on market sentiment for the game.
2. Respect higher seeds
Teams seeded one through four have a good track record of success in the early rounds. That doesn’t mean that upsets won’t happen, but it does mean that you shouldn’t try to force them. The top teams in the nation are where they are for a reason. Be sure to understand their overall strength in relation to their opponents.
3. Recent form
Speaking of upsets, one great way to spot games that have potential to break in this fashion is by studying recent form. Under-the-radar teams that are flying high heading into the tournament could find some success against powerhouse programs that have struggled of late, for example.
For each game on the docket, there are reams of stats to consider. You also won’t have a hard time finding opinions on which side will win.
On stats, focus on things that really matter, such as overall shooting percentage, defensive efficiency and depth of the rotations. As for opinions, feel free to consult trusted sources, but be sure to stick with your instincts when it comes time to make final decisions.
Wagering on upsets in March Madness
Everyone is searching for the next Cinderalla. And it’s no wonder — winning a wager on a 16-seed to upset a 1-seed brings not just bragging rights, but a great payout. But how often does that happen?
That specific scenario of a 1-seed falling in its first game of the tournament has happened just twice. In NCAA Tournament history, that equates to a 1.28% chance. From there, though, the chances of upsets in the first round grow.
11-seeds beating 6-seeds is the most frequent upset in the Round of 64. It’s happened 61 times, or 39.1% of the time. 12-seeds toppling 5-seeds has happened 55 times, or 35.26% of the time.
In terms of the entire tournament, we see an average of 8.5 upsets each March Madness. In recent years, that number has jumped (14 upsets in both 2021 and 2022). But we’ve seen as few as three, which happened back in 2007. There are an average of 4.7 first round upsets and three second-round upsets.
So if you’re creating a bracket or throwing money on upsets this March Madness, don’t go too crazy. Especially as the tournamnt goes on, the amount of upsets in each round (on average) falls. Favorites tend to be strong down the stretch from the Elight Eight and on. Sprinkle in a few here and there if you really have faith in them, but don’t go overboard.
March Madness teams in Colorado
There are five Division I men’s college basketball programs in the state of Colorado. Here are some key details for each of them.
Air Force Falcons
- Location: Colorado Springs
- Home games: Clune Arena
- Conference: Mountain West
- Head coach: Jon Jordan (interim)
- March Madness appearances: 1960, 1962, 2004, 2006
Colorado Buffaloes
- Location: Boulder
- Home games: CU Events Center
- Conference: Big 12
- Head coach: Tad Boyle
- March Madness appearances: 1940, 1942, 1946, 1954, 1955, 1962, 1963, 1969, 1997, 2003, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2021, 2024
Colorado State Rams
- Location: Fort Collins
- Home games: Moby Arena
- Conference: Mountain West
- Head coach: Ali Farokhmanesh
- March Madness appearances: 1954, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1969, 1989, 1990, 2003, 2012, 2013, 2022, 2024, 2025
Denver Pioneers
- Location: Denver
- Home games: Hamilton Gymnasium
- Conference: Summit League
- Head coach: Tim Bergstraser
- March Madness appearances: None
Northern Colorado Bears
- Location: Greeley
- Home games: Bank of Colorado Arena
- Conference: Big Sky
- Head coach: Steve Smiley
- March Madness appearances: 2011
Prepare for March Madness betting in Colorado
As the college basketball season inches toward conference tournaments, buzz around the NCAA Tournament begins to heighten. Keep an eye out for which teams appear to be hitting their stride during this time. And watch out for operators around Selection Sunday and the start of the NCAA Tournament, as a number of promos and offers will pop up. That way, when things officially tip off in March, you will be all set for March Madness betting in Colorado.
March Madness FAQ
According to the American Gaming Association, a whopping $8.5 billion was wagered on March Madness in the US last season. That number includes money spent on bracket competitions and actual bets placed on the games and tournament as a whole. It’s close to an even split between the two categories in terms of dollars.
Anything is possible, but the chances of actually filling out a perfect March Madness bracket are incredibly small. In fact, advanced mathematical studies have placed the odds of doing so at one in 9.2 quintillion. For perspective, one quintillion is the equivalent of one million trillions. While many dream of hitting the perfect bracket, the odds suggest it’s just not going to happen.
There are a number of programs across the nation with impressive March Madness track records. Here are the top five schools with the most tournament appearances, listed with the number of times they made it to the dance and how many times they have won the national title.
- Kentucky Wildcats, 62 appearances, eight titles
- North Carolina Tar Heels, 54 appearances, six titles
- Kansas Jayhawks, 52 appearances, four titles
- UCLA Bruins, 51 appearances, 11 titles
- Duke Blue Devils, 47 appearances, five titles
The biggest upset in tournament history actually happened recently. In 2018, the UMBC Retrievers, a 16 seed, upset the top-seeded Virginia Cavaliers by a score of 74-54. This was the first time in tournament history that a 16 seed came out on top of a one seed. Entering the game, Virginia was a 20.5-point favorite.
For the tournament as a whole, the eighth-seeded Villanova Wildcats won the whole thing back in 1985, defeating the powerhouse Georgetown Hoyas in the national championship game. Villanova still stands as the lowest-ranked team to win the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.
The UCLA Bruins hold the all-time record for national titles with 11, the last of which came in 1995. Here are the next four teams on the list with the number of times they won the tournament and the year of their last championship win.
- Kentucky Wildcats, eight, 2012
- North Carolina Tar Heels, six, 20217
- UConn Huskies, six, 2024
- Duke Blue Devils, five, 2015
- Indiana Hoosiers, five, 1987