The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Tournament is one of the most awaited tournaments in the United States these days. There are 68 top college teams who are aiming for the National Championship. Now that the complete schedule and dates for the 2021 March Madness have been already set, more fans and bettors are getting ready for the different teams’ awesome game performances.
How are you going to earn money by betting on these teams?
Well, there are actually different betting types you might consider that can be suitable for you, especially for the novices.
Point Spread
While prediction is a factor when you pick a winner, knowing the favorite and the underdog teams is important, as well. In the point spread betting type, sportsbooks and oddsmakers set the predetermined point margins to balance both teams’ competition levels before every NCAA tournament.
The thing about the spread is that the team does not need to win or lose for you to win on your bet. When you pick the favorite team (indicated with a negative (-) sign), it must win by accumulating points more than the point spread. Meanwhile, when you pick the underdog team (indicated with a positive (+) sign), it must lose by certain points less than the point spread determined or having an outright win.
The first matches of March Madness tend to have much higher point spreads. But as the Tournament continues, the competition is getting tighter, making the point spread to have smaller margins.
Moneyline
Moneyline betting is considered to be the simplest and most direct type of betting. Here, the only thing you have to do is to pick the winning team. However, every bettor knows that this is not a simple decision-making process out of many teams participating in the NCAA games.
First of all, you have to know how to read the odds. By that, you will be able to predict which team will be more likely to win or lose in the game. That will also make you understand how the payouts work in order to claim your money.
NCAA’s beginning rounds have high moneyline odds, especially when a higher seed is matched up with a lower seed. Moreover, moneyline underdog is a known bet for March Madness because of the unpredictable upsets that can possibly happen.
Game Total
Game total wager, also called the over/under bet, is another easy betting type. Here, the winner or loser of the game is not important at all. The most significant thing is the over/under is the total points accumulated by both teams, whether the points go over or under the determined total points to score.
However, oddsmakers disclosed that college sports totals like in NCAA basketball are the hardest markets to book. It gets even harder now in March Madness, having foreign competitors, different styles, and fast turnarounds in each round.
Prop Betting
Proposition betting, or simply prop betting, refers to any betting type aside from the standard or popular markets such as the point spread, moneyline, and game total. It is focused more on the specific occurrence or non-occurrence of a certain match. The final results of the match are not really relevant to this betting type.
The props can be based on many statistics and metrics of the basketball such as points, assists, rebounds, blocks, fouls, turnovers, three-point attempts and shots, free throw attempts and shots, and shooting percentage.
This type of betting is a great method to wager if you are highly skeptical on which team will win or lose, without losing the fun and excitement towards the game.
Future Betting
Future betting comes with a bet to an outcome that is not yet determined until a certain future. This betting type includes the team which will take the victory on the National Championship this year. But before that, the team has to play and win in different rounds, then make it to the Final Four, and win the Tournament.
The point here is that the bet is not based on the single game or series but on the whole season, leading the team to the overall victory. Thus, future bets are placed throughout the entire March Madness as the odds keep on changing on every outcome on every round.
With that, future betting can be a challenging and difficult method for your wager to win. However, due to its long time for the outcome to occur, you can gain huge pay here if you place your wager on the right team.
Takeaway
NCAA March Madness is probably one of the most challenging tournaments to predict. This makes betting in this event difficult too. Thus, start with the simple bet types and gain experience. Eventually, you will improve and can guarantee to go with more complex ones to gain more money than before.
