Over $12 BILLION worldwide expected to be wagered on NCAA Tournament
That’s
more action combined than on the Super Bowl!
Less than 1% of worldwide sports
betting occurs in Nevada
Over 100 million people expected to take part in
tournament bracket contests!
Perfect
Bracket Odds:
There are 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 possible brackets
(9.2 quintillion)
That's the number nine follow by eighteen zeros!
That’s
ONE MILLION times bigger than 9 TRILLION!
Some examples of just how big
this number is:
If everyone on the
planet each randomly filled out a bracket, the odds would be over ONE BILLION to
1 against any person having a perfect bracket.
If one bracket per
second was filled out, it would take 292 BILLION years to fill out all possible
brackets (that's 20 times longer than the universe has existed).
If all
the people on earth filled out one bracket per second, it would take over 43
years to fill out every possible bracket.
If all possible
brackets were stacked on top of each other (on standard paper), the pile would
reach from the moon and back over 1.1 million times.
All possible brackets
(on standard paper) would weigh 90,000 times more than every man, women, and
child on earth combined.
Even if a person had a
90% chance of winning each game he picked, his odds would still be 763 to 1
against picking a perfect bracket.
68 vs. 64 teams:
The calculations
above assume a 64 team bracket – if expanded to consider 68 teams, multiple the
figures by 4.
March
Madness mania in Vegas:
People start saving seats in sportsbooks at
2 am the night before Thursday’s first round!
85 FOOT big screen this year at
MGM Mirage sportsbook
Bracket Picking Rules & Tips from
Vegas!
(all records since modern era began in 1985 unless
noted)
FIRST ROUND picks:
TIP: Pick ZERO #1 or #2
seeds to lose.
#16 seeds are 0 for 112
#15 seeds are 6 for 112
TIP:
Pick at least ONE #13 or #14 seed to win.
At least one Top 4 seed has lost in
the first round 24 of 28 years
#13 and #14 seeds combined win 18% of first
round games
TIP: Don't be shy picking upsets with #12 through #9
seeds.
#12 seeds have won at least one game 22 of 24 years
#9 seeds are 4
wins above .500 vs. #8 seeds
SECOND ROUND picks:
TIP:
Advance #1 seeds into the 3rd round unless very good reason not to.
88% of #1
seeds advance to the Sweet 16
TIP: Keep advancing any #12 and #10 seeds
you picked to win in Round One.
#10 and #12 seeds combined win about half the
time in Round Two
#12 seeds have the same number of Sweet 16 appearances
overall than #7 seeds
A double digit seed has made the Sweet Sixteen 26 of 28
years
TIP: Pick at least ONE upset of a #2 or #3 seed.
Only once in 28
years has all the top three seeds (#1, #2, #3) made the Sweet
Sixteen
TIP: Do NOT pick any seed worse than #12 to win in the 2nd
round.
Only 7 of 448 teams (1.6%) advancing past Round 2 were seeded worse
than #12
Sweet 16 round picks:
TIP: Advance exactly
three #1 seeds into the Elite 8.
72% of #1 seeds make the Elite 8
(that's
a higher percentage than #5 seeds that win a single game!)
TIP: Advance
no team worse than a #11 seed into the Elite 8
26 have made it the Sweet 16,
but only 1 has ever advanced
Elite 8 round
picks:
TIP: Advance exactly ONE or TWO #1 seeds to the Final
Four.
The Final Four has included exactly one or two #1 seeds 22 of 28
years
TIP: Advance no team worse than a #8 seed to the Final
Four.
Only 3 of 112 Final Four teams have been seeded worse than
#8
FINAL FOUR round picks:
TIP: Advance NO team worse
than a #6 seed to the Championship game.
Only ONE team worse than #6 has made
it in last 27 years
TIP: Do NOT advance TWO #1 seeds to Championship
game
Since tournament seeding began 34 years ago (1979)
only 6 times have
two #1 seeds made the finals
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
pick:
TIP: Pick a #4 seed or better to win it all.
For 24
straight years the champion has been a #4 seed or better!
Thanks to RJ Bell from www.pregame.com for all of the information.
Follow him at www.Twitter.com/RJinVegas
