In a few days, the chaos and bliss that bestows annually around the Ides of March will confer – the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
Daytime college basketball that extends into midnight. Eight games occurring at once across six streaming devices.
Oh, and bets. A whole lot of bets.
But ordinarily, player props for these games would be hard to come by. State regulators have been wary about indiscriminately permitting player props in college sports because of a history of sordid match-fixing by figures looking to exploit athletes' lack of pay.
Before the launch of online sports betting in 2018 – and NIL – you'd be hard-pressed to find a book in Vegas that allowed the practice.
While up to 12 states now allow player props in college basketball and football, it's rare to see props posted for a run-of-the-mill regular-season game.
And despite the promulgation of NIL, which generally allows players to get paid more than they'd make by throwing a game, the other 20 or so states with sports betting have remained averse almost entirely due to historical precedent.
Still, at PointsBet, you can wager on player props for March Madness in eight states. PointsBet patrons in New Jersey, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland and Ohio will be able to wager on players in some form.
In New Jersey, Illinois and Iowa, you can't place prop wagers on games involving teams based in the same state. So, an Iowa bettor won't be able to wager on the Hawkeyes, for instance.
Patrick Eichner, a spokesperson for PointsBet, said props will likely be posted the morning of each March Madness game.
At DraftKings, the list extends to up to 12 states.
Bettors there can place player prop wagers in New Jersey, West Virginia, Indiana, New Hampshire, Michigan, Illinois, Wyoming, Connecticut, Louisiana, Kansas, Maryland and Ohio.
As aforementioned, New Jersey and Illinois ban same-state wagers.
