NCAA March Madness 2021 Betting in Michigan: Apps & Sportsbooks

March Madness, the NCAA Men’s Division 1 basketball tournament, is one of the biggest, most exciting and popular events in all of sports. It’s a single-elimination tournament of 68 teams that compete in seven rounds for the national championship.

According to USA Today, roughly 100 million people, from 180 countries, tune in to watch the games play out in March. Many people fill out brackets to try a predict which team will win each round, and of course, sports betting on March Madness is hugely popular. The American Gaming Association (AGA) estimated that 47 million Americans wagered $8.5 billion in 2019.

Since Michigan has now fully legalized online sports betting, you can look forward to wagering on all of the excitement this March!

March Madness Bonus & Promo Codes

Download Sports Betting App for March Madness

If you’ve been looking to make the switch from betting in retail sportsbooks to online betting, download a sportsbook app is the first step.

If you already have smartphone or mobile device, simply follow our instructions below to download your app of choice and get started.

Download Sports Betting App:

Find a link to your favorite sportsbook app and click the “Play Now” button. Make sure to use our links because we often have exclusive bonus offers and promotions that you can’t find anywhere else.

Look for the appropriate download button for your device (either Apple or Android).

Apple users (iPhones/iPads) can download their apps through the normal process.

Android users need to allow “Unknown Sources” to download before they can get the .apk file for the app. This can be done by doing the following:

• Navigate to Setting > Security.
• Check the option “Unknown Sources“.
• Tap OK on the prompt message.
• Select “Trust“.

After downloading the app, you can either register for a new account or log in with your existing username and password. To get the best value, be sure to enter any bonus or promo codes from our site when registering.

Betting on March Madness – Types of Bets

There are always many different ways to place bets and get in the action during March Madness.

The Michigan Gaming Control Board does have final say on approved betting markets. Not all bet types may be approved for this year. Check back for updates.

Most Popular March Madness Betting Type

Futures are the most popular type of bets during March Madness. Although these bets are typically not as popular, the unique format of the tournament makes them a perfect fit.

A futures bet is any wager placed on an event that will take place in the future. Usually, futures bets are predictors of champions or which teams will make the Final Four.

Since 68 basketball teams join in on the March Madness action, there are plenty of choices for which teams will advance and eventually win the championship.

The higher seeds are statistically more likely to win, but part of what makes the tournament so exciting is the possibility of upsets. Teams as low as the No. 8 seed have gone on to win the championship.

There are also some additions to the normal field of futures bets in March Madness. For example, you can make futures bets on how far each team will go in the tournament.

Futures bets are usually expressed as moneylines, but these can be converted into straight odds rather easily.

If you take the moneyline and divide it by 100, you will get the odds. For example, a +2500 is a 25-1 underdog because 2500/100 = 25.

Other Common Types of March Madness Bets:

There are also other standard types of bets are available for individual March Madness games. The following types of bet will be available for every game in the tournament:

Point Spreads: These types of bets are related to margin of victory. Point Spread means a team must win by a specific number of points / goals, or they must not lose by a specific number of points / goals.

Parlays: These bets also known as “combo bets” allow you to combine multiple wagers into a single bet. All selections in a parlay must be correct in order to pay out. These are typically a higher-risk higher-reward type of bet.

Moneylines: Betting the moneyline for a game is possibly the simplest way to wager on sports. Bettors just choose a player or team to win. If the bettor chooses the winning side, the sportsbook will pay the amount due.

Live Betting: Also referred to as in-game betting or betting in running, is the ability for bettors to make additional bets after the game has already started.

Totals: A total or “over/under” bet is a single wager on whether or not the combined goal, point or run total of a single game will be over or under what the oddsmaker sets it at before the event. When placing a total wager, all the bettor is concerned with is the combined score of each team at the end of the game.

Betting Tips & Strategies for March Madness

For many players, March Madness is likely the first time that they have tried to bet on sports. So, we’ve compiled a few tips and strategies to keep in mind when wagering on March Madness.

Finding Value in the Middle Seeds Early On

Upsets are one of the reasons that makes March Madness so exciting! The idea of a small school upsetting a powerhouse is a classic David vs. Goliath scenario and makes for great entertainment.

Despite the potential for upset, the seedings in a tournament are usually fairly accurate. The higher-seeded teams (Nos. 1-4) are generally going to win their first and second games.

Games where the teams are closer together are more likely to have upsets. For instance, the No. 12 seed has beaten the No. 5 seed around a third of the time.

So, look for lower-seeded (Nos. 9-12) teams who have great records but placed low because of their schedule strength. A midtier conference champion usually has a pretty good chance to beat the fourth or fourth-best team in a power conference.

Higher Seeds for Late in the Tournament

With all of that said, the higher-seeded teams do tend to come out victorious in the end. Only 10 teams seeded below No. 6 have ever made the Final Four.

Dropoff does happen in the tournament. This happens because the depth of higher-seeded teams tends to exert themselves as fatigue and inconsistency sets in. A lower-seeded team can be undone if its star player has an off night.

The other factor is that the element of surprise for the lower-seeded team is lost. The higher seeds will have fully scouted a lesser-known college in the first week by the time the second week rolls around.

Watch for Momentum

Momentum is a very powerful and real thing in the sorts world. A team that catches fire at the right moment can sometimes run through the competition, regardless of their seed or previous performance. As the tournament progresses look for teams that have momentum behind them.

It is also a good idea to look for a high-seeded team that has fallen off, perhaps due to injuries or inconsistencies.

Keep Track of Lines

At the beginning of each bet, a sportsbook designates opening marks for the point spread, over/under, moneyline and other estimates for the game. However, these estimates are not always accurate, and smart bettors often flood to lines that seem off.

This flood of cash will provoke an adjustment from the sportsbook, which wants its potential payout liability balanced on each side of the bet. So, look for large swings from the opening position to the current mark.

If the smart money is going a certain way, there’s usually a pretty good reason.

Bracket Contests for March Madness

The March Madness bracket is the grid of all the teams in the tournament and the path they have to follow to the Final Four and the championship game.

Because the schedule is published about a week before the tournament begins, bracket contests are the best-known way to place a wager on March Madness. Even individuals who don’t typically bet usually will place wagers and create brackets during March Madness.

According to Nielsen, Americans (and others) completed a staggering 170 million brackets in 2019. So, many sites, including both Michigan sportsbooks will host bracket challenges for March Madness.

You can participate by registering with a popular sportsbook, many of which you can find directly on our site. After registering, look for the button that opens a new bracket. Then click through each round and decide which team you think will advance.

Eventually, you will have picked a Final Four, a championship game and an eventual champion. You will also have to guess the score of the final game. The guess on the final score is used in the event of a tie.

After you’ve made your selections, submit your bracket. Make sure to check back in with your bracket, because watching your picks win (or not) is one of the most exciting parts of March Madness.

History of March Madness

The first NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament was played in 1939. It had eight teams, and Oregon became the first NCAA tournament Champion after beating Ohio State for the title.

Since then, the tournament has expanded drastically to now include 68 teams. However, four teams are eliminated through play-in games, which means the tournament is essentially made up of 64 teams.

Teams in the main field receive seeds Nos. 1-16, and the eight teams who compete in play-in games have the same seeding.

The term ‘March Madness’ was first used in reference to basketball by an Illinois high school official, Henry V. Porter, in 1939. March Madness wouldn’t become associated with the NCAA tournament until Brent Musberger used it during coverage of the 1982 tournament.

UCLA has the most NCAA men’s basketball national championships with 11, including a stretch of seven titles in a row between 1967 and 1973.

Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski has the most NCAA tournament wins by a single coach (97).

At present, 16% of Americans are expected to fill out a bracket each year. They will also wager more than $10 billion on the games.

How Will March Madness Be Different in 2021 Because of the Pandemic?

Following the success of the NBA’s “bubble” in Florida, the NCAA decided it will host the entire tournament in one geographic location for the first time ever.

The NCAA released a statement in January announcing that the entire 2021 men’s basketball championship will be played in Indiana, with the bulk of the tournament’s 67 games taking place in Indianapolis. Selection Sunday is still scheduled for March 14, and the current plan is to have the Final Four on April 3 and 5.