One of the best times of the year has arrived for Sin City, as the NCAA Tournament has officially gotten underway. For the next few weeks, people will be spending a lot of time and betting on the ‘Big Dance.’ With this, the Las Vegas sportsbooks are expecting massive tourism numbers for March Madness, which we see every year.
For Vegas, there are two times of the year when local businesses see a major spike in both betting and tourism numbers: March Madness and the Super Bowl. With the Super Bowl last month, we saw people arrive in Las Vegas in large groups, as they were ready to lay down a substantial amount of money on the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles.
Now, the local sportsbooks in the area are indeed packed to the brim with the NCAA Tournament kicking off on Thursday. While everyone can’t wait to see the No. 1 seeds in action, the upsets are what makes the tourney so special each season. On the first day of the 2023 edition alone, we saw Furman stun Virginia in what will easily be one of the biggest upsets of the year.
Some more head-turning results will be on the way. In terms of wagers, this year’s tourney has the chance to be historic for Las Vegas, as we’ve already seen countless bets arrive. The betting action is only going to heat up as the tourney continues. You better believe that once the Sweet 16 arrives, people will be taking things to the next level. This is good news for sportsbooks and local businesses as a whole.
For a while now, we’ve seen Vegas fans betting big on the Houston Cougars to win it all and that’s not going to be changing soon. According to the best-rated sportsbooks, which includes the reliable Bovada review, Houston holds +500 Las Vegas betting odds to win the Big Dance. Houston is the No. 1 overall seed for the tournament and rightfully so.
This team is loaded with an incredible amount of talent, with head coach Kelvin Sampson doing a tremendous job this year. Sampson knows what it takes for his team to go on a deep run. Luckily for this team, Sampson has a ton of coaching experience, and he’s ready for his playmakers to deliver in the best way possible. Houston will be a team to watch from start to finish during the tourney.
“But we’re honored. We’re honored to make it,” Sampson said leading up to the tournament on the play of his team and standout players. “We’re honored to be a one seed. But our kids have earned the right to be 1 seed. Happy for our program, but more importantly, I’m happy for our kids who did all the work.”
Houston has been a strong pick early on among the fans putting money down in Las Vegas, but they’re not the only ones with strong March Madness betting odds. Teams like the Kansas Jayhawks, Alabama Crimson Tide, Purdue Boilermakers and others are ready to make a big splash as well. Only time will tell who wins it all, but the betting action is surely going to be electric.
What’s important to remember here is that Vegas businesses are also seeing the economic impact of so many people in town for the tournament. Despite Las Vegas not hosting any games, people still fly in to watch the action at sportsbooks and bars. This means people will schedule their vacations for this time of the year, staying at hotels, resorts, and more.
Not only that, but you already know this means that people are also doing a lot of shopping, eating, checking out shows, concerts – the list goes on and on. Several experts and tourism analysts believe that the NCAA Tournament leads to one of the most heavily trafficked times of the year for the city, which of course means things are quite busy for everyone involved.
The foot traffic should never be a surprise, as mid-late March is such a big time of the year for everyone in Las Vegas. As we mentioned above, the Super Bowl is tremendous, too for the city, but March Madness is stretched out over more than just one game like the SB. Because of this, it results in billions of dollars being bet worldwide, with the numbers growing as things advance.
The major upsets we see each year are also great for the local sportsbooks, as bettors typically suffer a bit of a loss, with those lower-seeded teams knocking off better teams. While we won’t know the official betting numbers for a little while, there’s no doubt in our minds that they will be through the roof. Vegas is always a big winner for the tournament, and ’23 will be no different.
