Action App March Madness Betting Primer

An upset is when a 12-16. ranked team beats a higher ranked opponent in this article.

Behind the hectic football season, sports fans across the country turned their attention to one of the most popular sports events, March Madness. 68 schools will compete against each other in the fierce and exciting tournament starting on March 14.

While we all enjoy watching the action on the field for its own sake, March Madness challenges and bets are the cornerstones of the competition. Bettors are inundated with betting options as 67 games unfold over three crazy weeks.

We decided to take a look back at historical March Madness betting data Action App to identify historical trends that can help in this selections for the 2023 NCAA Tournament. Here’s what we found.

March Madness betting has been on a steady rise since 2018

Legalized sports betting became widely available after the repeal of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) in May 2018. Since the repeal, nineteen states have passed legislation allowing residents to legally place online sports bets.

It is not surprisingly, the number of bets placed on March Madness has steadily increased year-over-year since 2018 as more states have gone online.

That trend is expected to continue in 2023, making it the highest legal bet in the NCAA Tournament to date.

With all the betting coming in, the burning question is how will people bet? The Action App archives give us a very good idea.

Bettors love chasing March Madness Upsets

The NCAA Tournament is known for its wild upsets. Why do you think March Madness got its nickname? So it really wasn’t surprising that since 2018 Action App users have picked the underdogs in the first round of the competition at an extremely high rate.

About 46% of the 2,190,682 picks tracked in the Action App in the first round of the NCAA Tournament over the past five years have been to win or cover underdogs.

Favorites still have the most picks, but you’d be hard-pressed to find deals below this rate in any other major sporting event.

What are the most popular NCAA tournaments?

According to our data, the most popular upset picks are the 5 vs. They come from 12 seed pairings. In fact, 5 vs. by Action users since 2018 54% of all picks tracked over 12 games were underdogs.. Here’s the full breakdown:

The most popular upheavals by year

The 5 vs. 12 seed games may receive the most number of picks in the Action App, but in each of the last four contests, the most first-round picks have come from 4 vs. 13 games.

The real question, though, is how did punters fare with their upset pick? 73% of bets placed on the four most popular games listed above won. Not a bad look for Action App users!

The point: The data clearly shows that March Madness bettors should scan the 5-12 and 4-13 bracket lines for a possible upset in 2023.

Which conference do punters trust the most when they get upset?

One of the best parts about the March Madness upset is that you’re more likely to pick a team you don’t know much about in hopes that they’ll be the next Cinderella.

Small schools like St. Peter’s or Loyola Chicago grab our attention with improbable runs in the later rounds. But how much do punters earn? really do you trust schools from lesser-known conferences? Turns out, not much.

Schools in power conferences, led by the ACC, are more likely to be picked as underdogs by Action bettors than smaller conferences.

The point: The power conferences are always more represented in the tournament, so there is a better chance of choosing a team from them than a smaller conference. That doesn’t necessarily mean you shouldn’t trust a smaller conference school if you’ve done your research and it’s a good fit.

March Madness Election 2023

Now that we know how users have bet in the past, let’s take a look at some early predictions for the 2023 NCAA Tournament.

Overall the best picked teams to win the league

Bettors are all-in early on Creighton, with Houston close behind. The Big Ten is noticeably absent from the Top-5 picks after back-to-back disappointing contests.

*2023. valid on March 8.

A lot can change as the field of 68 players will be finalized on Selection Sunday!

Top Picked Teams by State

There are some interesting state-specific favorites to see who will win it all in 2023. Right now, Creighton is still the favorite pick among bargain bettors on a state-by-state basis.

How to Bet on March Madness

If you want to bet on this year’s NCAA tournament, be sure to check out the Action Network College Basketball website for all parenthetical parsing, you must choose wisely!

For those who are not yet familiar with online sports betting, be sure to take a look at our site sports betting review center to find the best new user promotions and analytics.

This page contains commercial content. We may receive compensation for links on this page. The content on the site is for informational purposes only. Action Network is not responsible or liable for the accuracy of any information provided or the outcome of any game or event.