The NCAA men’s and women’s championship tournaments have become major business for sportsbooks around the world, so much so that one expert believes March has become the biggest betting month of the year.

The NCAA tournament – dubbed March Madness – runs from March 19 to April 8 and pits 68 of the best U.S. college basketball teams against one another in a single-elimination bracket-style tournament until a national champion is crowned.

The event is hugely important to the bottom lines of TV networks, college athletic programs and now the betting world, as online sports gambling is now legal in Ontario and most U.S. states. 

“It's a million-dollar-plus business and that doesn't consider television rights, but it's about a US$15 to $17-billion bet business,” Robert Boland, a law professor with a concentration in gaming, hospitality, entertainment and sports at Seton Hall Law School, told BNN Bloomberg in a television interview on Friday.

“It's probably the largest betting event in the world that happens annually. Maybe the World Cup -- a quadrennial event -- draws a little bit more money around the world, but it'll draw about $15 billion of betting.”

For Boland, the popularity of March Madness comes down to the scope of the event and fans’ allegiance to their alma mater.

“It's really taken off in the years while more people have gone to college and have loyalty and love this,” he said.

“In terms of TV, it's certainly very watched as a property and this will be the biggest betting month in sports in the United States.”

The tournament is hugely important to the wallets of the players as well, as for decades NCAA student-athletes were unpaid, but can now earn a salary off the court through name, image and likeness (NIL) deals.

“In a lot of cases, school collectives, groups of donors, (and) groups of boosters are using the collective structure to actually pay a version of salary to some athletes, but this is a big money opportunity and athletes are now able to cash in,” Boland said.

“You won't see them making tens of millions … a very few number (are) in the seven figures, (but) you'll see many more working smaller deals around the sides of this.”