How does march madness betting work?

If you know how college basketball betting works you shouldn’t have a hard time betting on March Madness.
We recommend you to check out our March madness betting tips in that case.
If you’re a greenhorn when it comes to online betting in the US then stick around.
We’ll give you a quick 101 on how March Madness betting works and sports betting works.

When it comes to betting on March Madness there’s just two things you need to know about:

1. What are betting Odds and how do they work during March Madness?
2. The different types of March Madness bets.

What are betting odds and how do odds work during March Madness?

Betting odds tell you two things:

The probability of an outcome
1. The probability of an outcome
2. The payout you will receive for a winning bet

Let’s deal with the probability part first with an example.

This is what betting odds for a typical march madness game would look like.
Indiana and Wyoming face off in the March Madness East Region.
The minus (-) sign tells us that Indiana are the favorites for this game.
The numbers, in this case 186, mean that you need to bet $186 to win $100.

What about Wyoming?
The + (sign) means that they are the underdog.
The +150 for Wymoming means that you will win $150 for every 100 Bucks you bet.
Your total payout would be your win amount plus your bet amount.
So if you dropped a hundo on Wyoming you’d get back $100 + $150 for a total payout of $250.

As you can see, betting on the underdog gets you a bigger payout!

You don’t always have to bet $100 or $186.
We used those numbers just to show you how betting odds will work when you bet on March Madness games.
You can choose the size of your bet and we’ll run the numbers on our bet slip for you!

March Madness Public Betting

The odds setters at Unibet are ultimately responsible for those numbers.
But, we’ll be honest here - they had a little help.
If you’ve not heard the terms ‘betting with the public’ or ‘betting against the public’ we’ll bring you up to speed.
The weight of public opinion influences the markets.

If most of the money is backing Indiana, they will be the favorites.
You now need to decide whether the public have called it right or if they are making as much sense as a Super Bowl halftime show.
The public’s betting pick for a march madness game will give you a smaller payout than betting against the public.

March madness bets and March Madness Betting options

On Unibet we're all about options.
Here are all the different types of bets when you're betting on March Madness games:

#1 March Madness Moneylines

We’ve already seen this one.
A March Madness Moneyline bet is a bet where you predict the winner of the game you choose to bet on during March Madness.
In our experience many customers find this to be the easiest bet to place.
If you're new to betting we recommend making a moneyline as your first bet.

#2 March Madness Points Spreads

Let's go back to that Indiana vs Wyoming game to see what a march madness points spread looks like:

Think of a spread bet on the as a winning margin.
The margin or line has been set at four for this March Madness game.
In our example, Indiana needs to cover the spread for you to win.
That means they have to score more points than the line for this  game.
If Indiana win by more than four points you win the bet.
If that bet’s a winner, you'll get need to bet $110 to win an $100.

March Madness Teasers

If odds of -110 don’t get you hyped up, we got a cool feature for you!
Did you see the green circle at the bottom of that image?
Take another quick look:

That’s a slider and you can move it from left to right and change the spread and get better odds.

This freedom to set your own spread is called a teaser.
You can use teasers to get better odds for other March Madness bets.

#3 March Madness over under bets

An over under is also called a total points bet.
The point of this bet is to guess how many total points will be scored on the March Madness game you decide to bet on.

Just like a points spread, we'll set a line for this over under bet.
All you need to to is bet on whether the total points will be either:

• Over the line
• Under the line

Here's what an over under looks like during March Madness:

The points line has been set at 131.5.
If you bet on over 131.5 you'll win if the total points are over 132.
If you bet on Under 131.5, you'll win if the total points during the games are under 131.
You can use our teasers for over-under bets as well.
Let's make the most of them and get some crazy March Madness odds!

We used the teaser to shift the points line to 135 for this March Madness showdown.
If Indiana and Wyoming score 136 points or more, winning bets pay at +133.

But what if there’s exactly 135 points; what happens then?
If any points total falls right on the line, the bet is declared a ‘push’.
You won’t win and you get your money back.

#4 March Madness prop bets

A Prop is short for proposition.
Think of these as side bets when you're betting on march madness.
You’ll find two types of prop bets on our March Madness betting site:

March Madness game props

These are prop bets you’ll find in a March Madness game you’ll be betting on.

Here are some examples:

• Total Number of Points - will they be odd or even?
• Highest Scoring Quarter
• Total Points Scored by one team

March Madness Player Props

These are prop bets based around individual players during a March Madness game.
Here are some examples of March Madness player props you’ll find while betting on March Madness on Unibet:

• Total Points
• Total Rebounds
• Total Assists

Finding Props for March Madness is easy on Unibet.
When you click on the game that interests you, just scroll down.
Keep going, past the moneyline, spread and overs and unders.
Game and Player prop options will show up.
Check out the odds and make your prop picks for you march madness game!

#5 March Madness Parlays

When you’re betting on March Madness you can combine many different bets into one big bet.
These are called Parlays.
Each bet in a parlay is called a leg.
On Unibet, you can build anywhere from a 2 leg to 12 leg March Madness parlay!
Like those props, parlays can be split into two types.
You can parlay bets on a single march madness game or you can spread it over two or more march madness games.

Here’s a possible single game march madness parlay:

We kept it simple with this one and built a 2 leg single-game parlay.
In the game between Bryant and Wright State, we’ve gone for Wright State to win and bet on Over 156 points to be scored.

The bet slip calculates the odds and it also tells you how much you will be paid if the bet wins. We’ve chosen dropped 10 bucks on this march madness parlay.
With odds of +300, we’d win 30 bucks plus our $10 investment.

But what if we want to look at more than one march madness game?
Here’s a 3 leg parlay option from the same game week:

We’ve kept the faith with Wright State and added Colorado and Boise.
The odds for three selections to win are +732.
For our $10, we will win $83.17 if all three colleges win.

That’s the important point with a parlay.
If the bet is to pay out, all your picks must be winners.
In our example, if Wright and Boise get over the line but Colorado fail, we lose our parlay.

March Madness parlay promos and offers!

Looking for some offers on your March Madness parlay picks?
Check out our parlay offers on Unibet and use it for your next March Madness parlay!