How to Bet on March Madness in North Carolina

Selection Sunday is officially in the rearview mirror! March Madness begins in earnest this Thursday as round one tips off. North Carolina sportsbooks are live and ready to accept bets on the NCAA Men’s tournament, and we’ve got you covered with the best bonuses to get started.

North Carolina Sportsbook Welcome Offers

Gambling problem? Call 877-718-5543. 21+ NC Only North Carolina sports betting providers have plenty of amazing welcome bonuses. Use our links and bonus/promo codes to claim them. Below, we’ll walk you through the process so you can snag a bonus and start betting on March Madness odds right away.

How To Sign Up And Claim Your Welcome Offer

Creating an account at a sportsbook is remarkably easy. Here are the steps you can follow. The exact order may slightly change based on the sportsbook, but the ideas are all the same.

1. Click one of our links to visit your preferred sportsbook(s).
2. Select North Carolina as your state, if required.
3. Click “Register,” “Join,” “Sign Up,” or similar to get started.
4. Fill out the required details: first and last name, date of birth, email address, password, phone number, home address (doesn’t need to be in North Carolina), a government-issued photo ID, and all or part of your social security number.
5. If required, provide the promo or bonus code for the sportsbook you’re using.
6. If necessary, confirm your phone or email by entering a code sent to your device or inbox.
7. Make your first deposit, keeping the sportsbook’s bonus in mind when you do so.
8. Place a bet that qualifies you for the bonus.

Sometimes, you may also need to opt in for the welcome bonus. Do that from the promotions page before making a deposit or placing a bet. Contact the sportsbook’s customer support team if you run into any problems with the sign-up or welcome bonus process. Live chat is typically the fastest option.

View March Madness betting promos

Finding March Madness Betting Options

Quite frankly, the hardest part is over—and signing up is still relatively easy. Once you have an account and claim your welcome bonus, everything else should be smooth sailing. Most sportsbooks will have a dedicated section for March Madness betting, including options for the men’s and women’s tournaments, free-to-play contests, and more. Navigate to the March Madness, NCAAB, or College Basketball section of your sportsbook app or site to see the March Madness options.

Depending on when you sign on, you’ll see a list of the upcoming or in-progress games. You can typically bet on the moneyline, total, or point spread directly from this page. If you want more betting options, click the individual match-up to populate other markets. You’ll start to get a feel for the myriad options on offer from NC sportsbooks during March Madness. Below, we’ll walk you through some of the most common bet types available during the tournament.

Common March Madness Bet Types

March Madness betting in North Carolina offers many markets and options. Here are some of the most popular.

Moneyline

Moneyline bets are the most straightforward wager you can make on March Madness games. A moneyline bet is a bet on one team to win. You then get paid according to the odds if your selection wins. Negative odds (such as -150) mean that the team is favored, while positive odds (+300) mean that the team is the underdog. Underdog bets pay better but are less likely to hit.

Point Spreads

In spread betting, you wager on a team to “cover.” That means a team is either given extra theoretical points or must play with a handicap. For example, a spread might look like this:

• Cornell +10.5 (-110)
• Ohio State -10.5 (-110)

In this case, Ohio State is expected to win by about 10.5 points. Ohio State must win by 11 points or more to cover the spread, with the 10.5 subtracted from the team’s final score. On the other hand, Cornell needs to either win outright or lose by fewer than 10.5 points. A final score of Cornell 60 Ohio State 67 would mean Cornell covers the spread, and that bet wins.

Totals

Totals betting is also called Over/Under betting. A “line” is set, such as 143.5 for the Richmond vs. Virginia Tech game. The bet pays out based on whether the teams combine to score more or less than that total. If you bet the “Over” and the teams combine for 150 points, the Over wins.

Prop Bets

Prop bets are typically tied to outcomes that aren’t the game’s final score. Standard props in basketball are tied to specific player performance. For example, you could bet on a player to score more than three 3-pointers in a game. Other props can be on the game overall, such as “Will this game go to overtime?” with the options being “Yes” or “No.”

Live Betting

You can bet on March Madness games that are in progress, which is fittingly called live or in-game betting. This can be an advantageous betting strategy because the lines and odds will change based on the events within the game.

Futures

Futures bets are on things that will happen (wait for it) in the future. Sure, that’s technically every bet, but we specifically mean more distant bets. Futures typically ask you to pick a team to win a season or meet certain performance goals. The most popular future bet for March Madness is simple: which team will win? The odds on futures bets offer good payouts, but that’s because they’re hard to pick correctly.

Parlays

You can combine multiple bets into a single wager, and that’s called a parlay. You can even combine wagers within a single game to form a Same Game Parlay. For a parlay to win, all individual bets within it (called “legs”) must hit.

2024 March Madness Schedule

March Madness is now underway! Here’s the schedule for 2024:

• First Four: March 19 and 20
• Round 1: March 21 and 22
• Round 2: March 23 and 24
• Sweet Sixteen: March 28 and 29
• Elite Eight: March 30 and 31
• Final Four: April 6
• Championship: April 8

READ MORE:

• March Madness Schedule, Best Live Odds for Men’s First Round
• 2024 North Carolina Tar Heels March Madness Schedule
• How To Bet On College Basketball In North Carolina