March Madness Betting Surged 60%—But 97% of Players Were Already Active
Posted on: April 18, 2026, 11:36h.
Last updated on: April 20, 2026, 07:33h.
- March Madness men’s and women’s NCAA basketball tournament wrapped up earlier this month
- Michigan won on the men’s side, UCLA on the women’s side
- Betting surged 60% this year, according to an Optimove study
A new Optimove study reveals that while March Madness betting activity skyrocketed by 60%, a staggering 97% of those wagers came from existing customers rather than new sign-ups.
Betting Surges
Optimove is a CRM and player engagement platform company for igaming and sports betting operators.
March Madness wrapped up earlier this month, with Michigan beating UConn 69-63 in the men’s national championship game, a defensive battle, their first title since 1989.
The tournament started with the men’s and women’s NCAA Tournament brackets released back in mid-March – 68 teams, 67 games, for each bracket.
March Madness typically drives massive betting volumes, in the billions of dollars across legal sportsbooks, according to the American Gaming Association (AGA), in large part because of the ups and downs in play, the upsets, the Cinderella stories.
Critical Retention Opportunity for Sportsbooks
According to the Optimove Insights Analysis, March Madness 2026 Report, the underlying theme, and the big lesson for sportsbook operators was this – the tournament doesn’t bring new bettors to sportsbooks but is in fact a critical retention opportunity.
Across every stage of March Madness through April 6 (the men’s championship game), 97% of depositing players were existing customers.
During the tournaments biggest betting spike, a 60% surge in betting activity during the men’s side First and Second Round weekend (March 19-22), first-time depositors were just 3% of the base. That ratio stayed that way right through the tournament.
Not surprisingly, the Final Four (April 4) saw a 51% lift above baseline, and the Elite Eight part of the tournament saw a 41% uplift.
Sweet 16
Sweet 16 (the quarterfinals) saw an 18% uplift in betting – fewer games per day, but also higher intensity games.
Those operators who focus more on personalized promotions, loyalty rewards and targeted re-engagement will see a strong return, according to the study.
Betting volume data on the tournament hasn’t been released yet, with the AGA projecting just before the tournament started that Americans would wager $3.3 billion on March Madness, on both the men’s and women’s tournaments, via legal sportsbooks.
According to Yahoo Sports reporting, prediction market Kalshi did $1.2 billion in trading volume over the first two days of March Madness (men’s and women’s).
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