Not too long ago, BetMGM launched its largest-ever bracket for its customers during this year’s March Matchups. The $10 million bracket challenge was accessible in BetMGM’s 22 markets available all across the country as a free-to-play challenge. In addition to the million bracket challenge, BetMGM also availed several other bonuses for keeping punters engaged and entertained all through the tournament.
March is always one of the most highly anticipated periods for sports lovers as they get endless opportunities to wager on tournaments in 3 weeks. For operators like BetMGM, March Madness presents an excellent opportunity to recruit new customers, as well as provide lots of excitement and treats to keep their old customers amused.
BetMGM has been creating fun and interactive content to enhance the March Madness experience for their customers since sports betting was legalized 4 years ago. The Perfect Bracket challenge by BetMGM has given its customers plenty of chances to walk away with $10 million by predicting the perfect bracket for March Matchups during this year’s NCAA tournament. If no one guesses the perfect bracket, the customer that manages to accumulate the most points during the tournament will be the lucky winner of $100,000.
This $100,000 will be awarded to the highest scoring bracket and can be split if 2 or more people give similar guesses. During the bracket, players will only enter once and only the first bracket entry submission will be deemed eligible. BetMGM customers were, however, permitted to edit their brackets right until the first March Madness game kicked off on March 17th.
In addition to the million bracket challenge, BetMGM also offered several smaller bonuses for its customers as incentives. For instance, the Parlay Boost Token was a promotion that was accessible by all BetMGM customers old and new. This tournament allowed participants to earn a free parlay boost token during each day of the March Madness tournament.
BetMGM has been growing rapidly since it started offering its mobile sports betting product to punters in the country. Just recently, FanDuel and BetMGM became the first sports betting partners of the NHL in the country, which is indeed a huge feat.
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Have Brackets Lost Their Popularity?
A recent survey conducted by the National Research Group of 1,000 bettors in the country aged 18-64 found that punters are increasingly moving away from tournament brackets with each passing year. According to the survey, tournament brackets have been getting less and less popular as legal online sports betting has gained momentum over the past 5 years or so.
The pandemic has also played a big role in prompting punters to move away from tournament brackets. The survey found that at least 60% of punters that took part in this year’s tournament did not fill out brackets. The survey found that only 8% of bettors filled out brackets without placing wagers on any specific games. Almost half of all the punters surveyed said that they had lost interest in filling out a bracket this year than before the pandemic.
57% said that not being physically present in their office spaces also reduced the likelihood of them filling out brackets during this year’s March Madness. By the end of March 31st, 2021, 39% of tournament punters had wagered at least $250 or higher on games while another 24% had wagered between $100-and $250. According to the survey, younger bettors aged 21-34 were far more likely to wager on the March Madness tournament compared to their older punters.
Earlier on in the year, the American Gaming Association had estimated that at least 45 million adults were expected to place bets on this year’s tournament. According to the AGA, a total of $3.1 billion would be wagered throughout the 2022 NCAA tournament, which was a slightly lower amount compared to last year. The AGA also expected 76% of the bets to be placed outside of brackets, which was a boost from last year’s 55%.
Further, the AGA had estimated that approximately 20.9 punters in the country would wager on the tournament outside of bracket contests via a retail sportsbook online, through a local bookie, or casually among friends and family. Based on estimates, only about 36.5 million bettors were expected to bet through a bracket contest or similar pool.
This year was always poised to be a wonderful year for legal sports betting. At present, legal sports betting is allowed in some form in 30 states, as well as Washington D.C. The legal market is expected to welcome 3 new entrants before the year comes to an end. At present, 11 states have active or pre-filed legislation awaiting legalizing their markets.
Having access to a wide array of sports betting platforms has certainly played a role in lowering the popularity of March Madness brackets. Because of this access, punters are simply engaging in March Madness betting a lot more different than they were accustomed to and this is only going to keep changing as mobile sports betting continues to become the norm. With improved access, punters simply have to place wagers on their favorite games or the outcomes of the entire tournament with just a tap.
This explains why the luster of bracket challenges has continued to diminish- and is a trend that has been recorded over the last few years. Since 2021’s March Madness, at least 29 million punters are now able to legally place bets in their home states. Wisconsin, Arizona, South Dakota, Connecticut, Washington, North Dakota, Maryland, Louisiana, and Wyoming have all debuted new legal sports betting markets.
Final Thoughts
It is essential to keep in mind that even though the sports betting market in the country has made great strides, the market is still very young. Less than 4 years ago, punters could only place a legal sports wager in one market. As such, the fact that the sports betting market in the country has grown to now include 35 states in 4 short years is nothing short of remarkable.
