March 15--Illinois teams may be shut out of this month's NCAA men's basketball tournament, but the odds are local fans will still have plenty of skin in the game.
March Madness betting is projected to top $9.2 billion this year through office pools, Nevada sports books and online, according to the American Gaming Association, with more than 40 million Americans filling out brackets in advance of Thursday's opening round.
"Americans' passion for betting fuels the unmatched popularity of March Madness," said Geoff Freeman, president and CEO of the American Gaming Association, in a news release. The total number of completed office brackets is expected to top 70 million this year, with the average participant betting about $29 on each one, according to the association.
Employers will have a lot riding on the tournament as well. With millions of workers focused on their office pools, lost productivity is expected to cost more than $3.9 billion in the first week alone, according to Chicago-based outplacement firm Challenger, Gray Christmas.
Picking the entire 64-team tournament is nearly impossible, with the odds of filling out a perfect bracket pegged at less than one in 9 quintillion, according to Jeff Bergen, a DePaul University mathematics professor.
Savvy basketball fans have slightly better odds of selecting all of the winning teams, Bergen said
"If you have a knowledge of basketball, your chances of getting a perfect bracket are 1 in 128 billion, which is still significantly harder than winning the lottery with one ticket," Bergen said.
Two years ago, Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett and Quicken Loans offered $1 billion to anybody who could pick a perfect bracket. There was no payout. This year, Buffett is holding a companywide March Madness pool with a $100,000 prize. In addition, if an employee picks all the winners in the first two rounds, they'll get $1 million annually.
While the odds of a perfect bracket are astronomical, Bergen said the dream of a more modest March Madness payoff remains within reach of most participants.
"Just because it's essentially impossible to get a perfect bracket, you can still win your office pool," Bergen said.
rchannick@tribpub.com
