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March Madness betting is finally upon us. Besides Super Bowl betting, this is the biggest attraction of the year for bettors — and how could it not be? 68 teams, 63 games, and never-ending betting opportunities for about three weeks. Oh, and stunning upsets too.
But even if you live in a state where sports betting is fully legal, you might walk into some restrictions come game time. You see, many states restrict college betting compared to pro betting. If you live in Illinois, New York, or Virginia, you’d be smart to keep on reading because this is going to affect you!
Betting On Local Teams Is Off Limts
Here’s a law all three of those states we just mentioned have in common: they don’t allow bettors to wager on local college teams. So if you’re a sports bettor in Illinois, no money on the Fighting Illini. This is a sweeping rule too so no props, no moneyline, no futures, nothing!
For the record, bettors in these states can wager on anything else related to March Madness. The only thing off-limits are collegiate teams in the same state. That means someone in New York can throw money on Illinois hoops, but no one in the state of Illinois can do the same.
Why is there a ban? To not influence games, that’s why. You see, college sports is more prone to “fixing” than pro sports. That’s because, outside some of the very top NIL players, collegiate athletes get paid way, way less, making them more vulnerable to take bribes.
Heck, we’ve already seen betting scandals hit the world of college sports. This last season, Fresno State’s hoops program was marred in controversy. Three players were investigated for betting — including on games they played in either the Bulldogs. It could create a dangerous precedent, but that’s why these laws exist in the first place.
Illinois is now the second-largest legal sports betting market if we’re going off the monthly handle. It’s second to only New York. Not ironically, both ban in-state college bets. The state of New Jersey — which is a top-5 market using the same metric — also bans it. We would not be surprised in the slightest to see other states follow suit in the years that come. The NCAA is certainly vouching for that (as we’ll get into later).
These March Madness Teams Will Be Affected
It wouldn’t be so bad if these rules affected two or three teams, but it’s a lot more extensive than that. That’s why we felt compelled to spell out which teams are affected in their home states. Let’s get into it:
Illinois Teams
We mentioned the Illini earlier, but it bears repeating. The Illini program is dancing in March for the fifth straight year. With a 21-12 record, they earned a sixth seed into the Big Dance and get a matchup against either Texas or Xavier, who have to duke it out in the play-in game. Illinois should be favored to win against either one.
Illinois isn’t the only team representing the state though — there’s also SIU-Edwardsville. Who? Yeah, that’s what most the country is saying after the school drew a No. 16 vs. No. 1 matchup against Houston. Unfortunately, local bettors won’t be allowed to wager on them pulling off the historic upset a la UMBC vs. Virginia.
Virginia Teams
Virginia actually has three teams in the tourney — Norfolk St, Liberty, and VCU. The usual tourney stalwarts, the Cavaliers, won’t be participating in anything besides a new head coach search. Of the three teams that did qualify, the highest seeded is VCU at No. 11. Liberty is a No. 12 seed, while Norfolk gets a No. 16 bid of their own.
New York Teams
One of the biggest storylines of the tournament is the rebirth of Saint John’s. This storied program has gotten a second life with the controversial coach Rick Pitino at the helm. They won the Big East for the first time since 2000 and were awarded a No. 2 seed in the process. It’s a shame New Yorkers won’t be able to bet on the Jonnies, a team that has legit title potential.
This Other College Bet Is Also Prohibited
These states don’t just ban bets on their local college teams. Nope, there’s another segment of bets it prohibits and this actually affects the entire country.
Individual player play props are completely off the books in states like Illinois, New York, and Jersey. This applies across the country, whether it’s a player for Duke or for Auburn. None of it is allowed.
Here again, this is to prevent bad actors from affecting the outcome. Whereas it’s harder for one player to control the result of the game’s over/under, a player prop is 100 percent in their control. The NCAA actually wants this to be banned across the country — no exception.
It remains to be seen whether that’ll happen, but the NBA is only helping their case. Jontay Porter was banned for life when it was discovered an unusual amount of money was bet on a player prop of his. Terry Rozier is also being investigated for the same thing — and is possibly apart of the same gambling ring.
We’re not here to ruin the fun, but you ought to know this with March Madness betting upon us. The good news is there’s still way, way more things you can bet on than can’t so run wild during the tourney — and hopefully be on the right side of some wild upsets.
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