Best March Madness Betting Sites in NC

North Carolina is basketball country with some of the best college hoops in the US happening each year up and down Tobacco Road. NC is also a sports betting state, meaning there are many NC online sports betting sites where fans can bet on NCAA basketball every year, including during March Madness.

Last year saw yet another NC team break through to reach the Final Four, only instead of perennial favorites Duke and North Carolina, it was upstart NC State surprising everyone to make it all of the way to the semifinals.

Here’s a complete guide on betting on the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament in North Carolina with information about the best March Madness betting sites and the many ways you can bet on college basketball in NC.

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How to Bet on March Madness Online in North Carolina

With legal sports betting now available in North Carolina, Tar Heel state bettors can bet on March Madness online. The options start with Championship and Final Four futures that are available all year long at the best NC sports betting sites. From there, the possibilities extend to bracket pools, individual game lines, and NCAA tournament outrights once the March Madness field is set.

Of course, if you want to bet on March Madness online, you’ll need to sign up for an account with a licensed online sportsbook first. Here’s how:

• Click a link to a licensed online sportsbook on this page
• Click on “Sign Up” or “Join” (or the equivalent)
• Fill out the forms with all required information, including any NC sportsbook promo or bonus code we’re sharing here
• Accept all terms and conditions

After that, you make a deposit, browse through all the March Madness betting lines, and choose the bets you want to make. Your wagers will appear on a bet slip which you can review and then submit to place your March Madness bets. Remember, you can pick March Madness winners all year long and then sort out your bracket and all the individual game lines once the field is set.

Betting on March Madness Futures

You can bet on March Madness Championship and Final Four futures all year long. Pick the team or teams you think have a shot at the National Championship or to make the Final Four in these March Madness futures markets.

Odds are posted for the next season right after the current one ends and are available all year. As the season plays out, those odds will change in response to how teams perform, but you lock in your odds at the time you place the bet. That means the earlier you get a bet down on a National Championship or Final Four contender, the more you are likely to win. By contrast, if you wait until a perennial favorite is already in the Sweet Sixteen to bet on them to win it all, your potential payout on backing them will be hugely reduced.

To give you an example, here’s a look at some of the futures odds for North Carolina’s four ACC teams for the 2024-25 campaign as listed during the early part of the season:

• To win the National Championship: Duke +500, UNC +7500, Wake Forest +35000, NC State +40000
• To reach the Final Four: Duke +100, UNC +1900, NC State +6000, Wake Forest +10000
• To win the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season title: Duke -1200, UNC +3000, Wake Forest +15000, NC State +50000

As you can see, Duke is the big favorite both in the ACC and nationally, in fact, with especially short odds to go deep in the tournament.

By the way, early in the 2023-24 season, NC State had similarly long odds to make the Final Four at around +10000 or longer at most sportsbooks. Even after they surprisingly won the ACC Tournament as a big underdog to earn a spot in the Big Dance, they were at around +4000 to win their region and make it to the Final Four. But they did it, in fact beating favorite Duke in the regional final, and those who had bet futures on the Wolfpack enjoyed big paydays!

How to bet on pre-tournament props

Once the tournament draws closer, you can sometimes find pre-tournament March Madness prop bets available at North Carolina sportsbooks. These will allow you to bet on things like:

• How many teams from each conference will get into the tournament
• Seeding, including where certain teams will be seeded and who will get a #1 seed
• Over/under on the least number of regular-season wins it’ll take to get into the tournament

Keep an eye out for these and other fun props appearing among the choices for March Madness betting at NC sportsbooks.

Complete Guide to March Madness Bet Types

Broadly speaking, there are three especially popular ways to bet on March Madness: bracket contests, futures, and game lines. Let’s dig into each of these below.

• Bracket contests: The traditional way to bet on March Madness, bracket contests are available at legal sportsbooks and through office and bar/restaurant/social club pools. You fill out an entire bracket before the tournament starts, then enter your bracket in a free or paid-entry bracket contest. You receive points for every winner you pick, with the points increasing with each round. Top entries generally share in whatever prize pool is created or awarded, with the lion’s share going to the best overall bracket.
• Futures: As discussed above, you can bet on any team to win the NCAA tournament, make the Final Four, or advance to a specific round at licensed sportsbooks. March Madness futures are available all year long, and the odds adjust as the season progresses.
• Game lines: Once the bracket is set, you’ll find March Madness game lines available for every tournament game. Within that category, here are some different types of bets:
  • Spreads: Point spread betting is where you pick a game-winner on the scoreboard with a point spread line factored into the final score. For a favorite to win a spread bet, and they’ll need to win by a certain margin for you to win. Likewise, an underdog need only lose the actual game by fewer points than the spread (or win outright) to win this bet.
  • Moneylines: When you bet moneylines you are picking the outright winner of any NCAA tournament game. Pick the winner and get paid according to the odds at the time you placed the bet, no matter how much those odds might change after.
  • Totals: Wager on a game’s final combined tally landing over or under a line set by sportsbooks.
  • Props: Bet on March Madness player and team performances and stat lines.
  • Parlays: Parlay betting combines two or more March Madness bets into one, boosting the odds versus the individual bets. But you must win all your linked bets to win anything at all.
  • Live betting: Wager on March Madness game lines and props after the game has started with the odds changing as the game progresses.

March Madness Promos Available at NC Sportsbooks

North Carolina launched legal sports betting just before the NCAA Tournament in March 2024. At the time, all of the new NC sites featured some great sign-up bonuses and tournament-related promos for bettors to take advantage of.

Of course, March Madness betting promotions are a regular feature at sportsbooks with new ones coming around every spring. Here are some highlights worth looking for:

• Caesars Sportsbook — Caesars runs several promos during the tournament, and in the past one favorite has been the Caesars March Madness Parlay Bonus that invites players to place a parlay, super parlay, or same game parlay bet and win extra for hitting wagers with the longest odds
• FanDuel Sportsbook — FanDuel also usually has NCAA bracket contests to play, including second-chance brackets you can enter during the later rounds
• BetMGM Sportsbook — BetMGM is great for profit boost tokens and same game parlay insurance promos during March Madness; look as well for the BetMGM Fast Break promotion, a free game you can play to win bonuses and boosts
• bet365 Sportsbook — one great feature at bet365 is the Early Payout promo which is available in several sports, including for NCAA hoops; place a moneyline bet and if your team goes up by 18 points you automatically win your bet (and don’t have to sweat a March Madness-style collapse and comeback)
• Fanatics Sportsbook — look for Fanatics’ daily Power Hour Boosts and other offers throughout the NCAA tournament in order to increase your payouts on winning wagers
• DraftKings Sportsbook — typically offers a free bracket challenge which in the past has featured $100,000 in bonus bets for those finishing in the money; DK also often runs a free Men’s College Basketball Survivor Pool in which you pick a team to advance each round, again with big prize pool of bonus bets up for grabs

March Madness betting rules

Every sportsbook publishes rules for how it handles situations that may arise during March Madness. Read these terms and conditions before betting. That way, nothing unexpected should occur with your March Madness bets.

A few wagering rules surrounding March Madness betting might including items like:

• Overtime counts for game bets unless otherwise stated
• Overtime does not count for second-half bets unless otherwise stated
• Player props stand as long the players involved take part in the game or tournament at some point and are void if they don’t
• Official NCAA data is used to settle bets

These rules aren’t that different from those that govern betting on college basketball during the regular season. Note that some states have restrictions in place regarding betting on college sports, including a few where you cannot bet on teams based in your state or on games played in your state. North Carolina has none of those restrictions, however, meaning you can bet on all the NC schools and on all games taking place in the state.

Make note also of any tie breaker rules if you enter an NCAA bracket contest at a NC sportsbook. For example, often you have to guess the score of the final to break a tie in the end.

2025 March Madness Tournament details

Every year March Madness officially kicks off with Selection Sunday, where the field of 68 teams is announced and the brackets are set. This year that happens on Sunday, March 16, with the games then tipping off later that week. Here is the schedule of events for the 2025 tournament:

Sign Up at a NC March Madness Betting Site Today!

If you don’t have an account at a North Carolina online sportsbook, there are some nice welcome offers for new sign-ups. Get an account today and you’ll receive bonus bets and be able to take advantage of other promotions you can use when betting on the NCAA Tournament. Check out our recommended sites above for the best NC March Madness betting sites and follow the links to get started.