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NCAA March Madness betting: BetMGM is rooting against these three teams to win the title

Frank Schwab
·NFL writer
·2-min read

The good news for BetMGM is it's worried only about three teams in the NCAA tournament futures market.

The problem is they're three of the four best teams remaining in the field.

BetMGM offers championship odds practically throughout the entire year, and bettors loaded up on three teams in particular: Gonzaga, Illinois and Michigan.

That's not bad for bettors, who can now take a bite out of BetMGM if any of those No. 1 seeds win the title. Those are the only three teams in the field BetMGM has liability on in the futures market.

Gonzaga leads the field in future bets, too

Gonzaga was one of the favorites from the beginning of the season, and quickly became the lone favorite early in the season. The Bulldogs opened +800 and have kept coming down during a 26-0 season. They were +275 on Selection Sunday and are down to +200. An astounding 26.7% of all the money bet on who will win the NCAA championship came in on Gonzaga.

Jalen Suggs and Gonzaga are trying to finish off an undefeated championship season. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Jalen Suggs and Gonzaga are trying to finish off an undefeated championship season. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) (Ethan Miller via Getty Images)

Michigan was not a favorite before the season, and there are some huge tickets on them to win it all. Michigan, which opened at +4000 to win the title, is now +600 and 7.2% of the money bet on the tournament winner is on the Wolverines.

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There are even bigger tickets on Illinois to win the title. The Illini opened at +8000 and is down to +600. In the NCAA futures market, 11.8% of the money is on Illinois.

Basically, there are a lot of Baylor fans at BetMGM.

Baylor didn't get as many bets

Baylor, the other No. 1 seed, was a preseason favorite too but itI didn't get anywhere near the handle Gonzaga did to win it all. Baylor had just 3.6% of the money bet on them, less than Tennessee and Iowa.

Of all the bets made on the NCAA tournament winner, 3 percent came in on Duke (1.6%) and Kentucky (1.4%). You don't bet those teams expecting to rip up your ticket before the tournament even tips off, but here we are. Duke and Kentucky, the 15th and 16th most-bet teams to win it all, didn't even make the big dance.

Bettors caught on early to Gonzaga's dominance and bought plenty of tickets on them to win the championship. If the Bulldogs become the first undefeated champion since 1976, there will be many happy bettors. BetMGM might not share their joy.

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