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Public Betting Splits on March Madness First Round Features Underdogs Covering

Brian Giuffra|
St. John's is getting a lot of public betting support in their first-round matchup of the NCAA Tournament.
St. John's is getting a lot of public betting support in their first-round matchup of the NCAA Tournament. | Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images

March Madness is upon us with the Round of 64 kicking off tomorrow and the betting action already fully underway.

With an estimated $3.1 billion in legal bets expected to be placed on March Madness, according to the American Gaming Association (AGA), there's going to be plenty of interest in where that money is being placed and by who.

At BetMGM, the early money is going on underdogs covering.

According to John Ewing of BetMGM, of the 10 games where 70% of the total number of bets was made on one team, nine of them are siding with the underdogs. The total number of bets is another way of saying the public in betting terms. And yeah, they like the dogs to cover.

Akron, seeded 13th, plays Arizona on Friday and has the heaviest percentage of total bets placed on them. However, in terms of the most bet tickets, AKA who has the most total bets on them, 13-seeded High Point leads that as a +7.5 underdog at BetMGM against four-seed Purdue. The Boilermakers have a history of early exits in the NCAA Tournament, so that's no surprise.

Other highly-bet underdogs at BetMGM include 14-seed Yale (+7.5) against four-seed Texas A&M and 11-seed VCU (+3.5) against six-seed BYU.

Two favorites getting the most public love are Michigan and North Carolina. The Wolverines are -2.5 against UC-San Diego and the Tar Heels are -1.5 against Ole Miss. UNC is seeded 11th and Ole Miss is a six-seed.

Here are some more teams getting support from the public.

It's not surprising to see so many big-name schools amongst the top bets. Oftentimes, schools with large alumni will be heavily bet by the public just based on the sheer number of fans.

St. John's is a large school with a historic pedigree in college basketball. Not only is it among the most heavily bet by the public, but it's also getting most of the money bet on it too.

These are splits from BetMGM only, so don't take them as universal. For instance, on Sports Betting Dime's betting splits page, they have Nebraska Omaha getting 66% of the total bets as an 18.5-point underdog against St. John's and 63% of the money as well. That's a complete flip from above.

It's often wise to fade the public when it comes to betting, but don't let that be your primary guiding light. The SI Betting team provides its best March Madness bets daily and will update that page throughout the tournament. We also advise checking out our best prop bets story daily for more insights as well as all our individual game betting previews, which can be found on the CBB picks page.

The tournament is still in its early stages and there's sure to be plenty of upsets over the coming weeks. We'll see if the public won or lost when everything's said and done.

As a new BetMGM user, you can now claim up to $1,500 in bonus bets when you create an account using BetMGM bonus code SI1500, deposit at least $10, and place a real money wager. If you lose your bet, BetMGM will return your entire stake as bonus bets.

Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.

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Brian Giuffra
BRIAN GIUFFRA

Brian Giuffra is the VP of Betting Content at Minute Media and has been with the company since 2016. He's a fan of the Knicks, Giants, wine and bourbon, usually consuming them in that order.

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