As the saying goes, “March comes in like a lion…”   If the number of bets placed in the first few weeks of March are a portend of things to come, then the online sportsbook casinos throughout the Internet will shatter all previous records for total bets on a sporting event.  As we predicted in last week’s column, the University of Louisville will be the dark horse of the tournament, and it was predicted here that Louisville will be crowned N.C.A.A. Basketball Champions on April 6^th in Detroit.

What the “Guru” of www.onlinegambling.co.uk didn’t know was that so many people read this column because, five days after scripting the narrative, the University of Louisville was selected as the No.1 seed in the Tournament by the N.C.A.A. Selection Committee.  Well, all I can say is “Great minds think alike.”  There are many other teams that have legitimate shots at winning the title.  These are Pittsburgh , Memphis, North Carolina , Connecticut and Oklahoma . 

It is estimated that, at the rate that bets are flying into online gambling sportsbook sites, over 40 million bets will be wagered by Americans in online sportbook casinos, and half that number by people in other parts of the world.  It is also estimated that Americans alone will wager over $12 billion on the games of the N.C.A.A. Basketball Tournament.

When March Madness begins, office pools are created all across and Canadian company workplaces, and many others in workplaces all over the world.  Many times people who hardly ever wager on sports during the year place bets on the games of March Madness as they often do on the Super Bowl.  These games also become a workplace distraction, especially during the first two days of the Tournament.  On these days, a Thursday and a Friday, many workplaces come to a screeching halt as 32 games are played from noon through midnight on both days.  It has been estimated that workplaces this year will lose more than $2 billion.

Online sportsbook gambling will notice a precipitous rise in the number of wagers and the amount of money bet.  Online sportsbook casinos are also aware of the high probability of upsets that occur during the first two rounds of the Tournament.  So, be careful to get the best possible odds on these games, even if you have to shop around to a few sportsbook casino gambling sites to extract them.  

As the games move on past the first two rounds, so will the excitement of the games.  So, go ahead, take a chance, and place a wager on the winner of the Tournament while you can still get favourable odds.