March Madness Betting Sites in Colorado
Betting on March Madness is a huge event for bettors, rivaled only by the Super Bowl. Now that Colorado has legal online sportsbooks, you can bet on the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament each year. Here’s what you need to know about March Madness betting along with real-time odds right from Colorado online sportsbooks. 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 the entire bracket out 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 is shaking things up and doing 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 has 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 that’s what 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.
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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.
Up to $1,500 in Bonus Bets if Your First Bet Doesn't Win*
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What bets can you place on March Madness?
There are a number of ways to get in on the action of March Madness. You can bet on the individual games, place a wager on the winner of the tournament and even place live bets as the action plays out in real time.
Here’s a look at the major bet types you’ll come across.
Moneyline: This is a simple bet in which 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 bets 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 bets you can place 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 betting: You can still place wagers after the action has gotten underway. The live betting market is fast-paced, 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?
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 betting 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 bet on all of the games. Instead, you can zero in on the ones you like the most and focus on breaking those contests down. 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.
Betting on upsets in March Madness
Everyone is searching for the next Cinderalla. And it’s no wonder — winning a bet 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.
College basketball 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: Joe Scott
- 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: Niko Medved
- March Madness appearances: 1954, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1969, 1989, 1990, 2003, 2012, 2013, 2022, 2024
Denver Pioneers
- Location: Denver
- Home games: Hamilton Gymnasium
- Conference: Summit League
- Head coach: Jeff Wulbrun
- 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
Betting on March Madness in Colorado
In May 2018, the US Supreme Court ruled on a long-running case regarding the legality of a federal sports betting ban. The high court felt that it was a matter for individual states to decide for themselves. It was the proverbial green light, and many states were quick to act. Today, a number of states offer legal and regulated sports betting, including Colorado.
Users can bet in person at retail sportsbooks, online with major operators, or on the go with sports betting apps. After legalizing sports betting in November 2019, Colorado officially launched the state’s first sportsbooks on May 1, 2020. The launch began with just a few apps, but with a number of casinos and sports betting licensees in the state, Colorado is set to offer a very robust and competitive market of both online betting apps and retail sportsbooks.
That includes the state’s brick-and-mortar casinos, as well as a number of major online operators such as DraftKings, FanDuel, and PointsBet. Now that apps are live, you can sign up to play online quickly and easily. You can click on our exclusive links to create your account, and you’ll be eligible for some excellent bonus and bonuses just for doing so. After you enter a few simple pieces of information such as name, email address, and password, your new account will be created instantly.
From there, take the time to download the app for your device so you can bet on the go. On the main website, you’ll find instructions for both iPhone betting apps and Android betting apps. Download the app for your device, log in on mobile, and you’ll be all set.
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 sportsbooks 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.