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The best three weeks of the year for basketball fans begin Thursday, March 21, when the first round of the NCAA Tournament begins. There will be 48 games played over the next four days, which means there are all kinds of opportunities to place some wagers on the nation’s best sports betting apps.

Before you get started, we have a guide for how to bet on March Madness so you can get the most bang for your buck while you sit back and wait for buzzer beaters and upsets.

How to Bet on March Madness: Claim $4,900 in bonuses

Perhaps the best part of betting on March Madness is that if you take advantage of the latest online sportsbook promos, you can claim up to $4,900 in bonuses so that most of your early bets don’t require drawing from your own cash balance. Below is a summary of the top bonuses available. Click on any of the graphics to claim the offer.

How to Bet on March Madness: Most Popular Wagers

Beginning Thursday, there will be 63 games played before a tournament champion is decided. For every one of those games, sportsbooks will offer the following betting markets that are the most popular with bettors:

Moneyline: This is the simplest wager because all you have to do is pick the team that will win. The margin of victory doesn’t matter. You do, however, pay a bigger price for teams that are favored to win by more points.

For Thursday’s game between Gonzaga and McNeese State, Caesars Sportsbook lists Gonzaga as the favorite with -274 moneyline odds and McNeese State as the underdog with +190 moneyline odds.

When betting a favorite on the moneyline, you wager more to win less. In this case, you must bet $274 to win $100 on a Gonzaga victory. On the other hand, when betting an underdog on the moneyline, you wager less to win more. In this case, if you wager $100 you can win $190 on a McNeese State victory.

Point Spread: This betting market evens the playing field more than a moneyline. Gonzaga is favored over McNeese State by 5.5 points at FanDuel Sportsbook. If you bet on Gonzaga -5.5, then Gonzaga must win by more than 5.5 points for you to win your bet. If the Bulldogs win by fewer than 5.5 points then you lose your bet.

If you bet on McNeese State +5.5, however, McNeese State does not have to win the game outright for you to win your bet. For you to win your bet, the Cowboys must lose by fewer than 5.5 points.

Because winning or losing by a certain number is required, the odds are better for favorites — typically close to -110 both ways — than they would be if you bet on a moneyline.

Total (Over/Under): It doesn’t matter who wins the game when you bet on the total. The only thing that matters is how many points are scored combined.

At BetMGM Sportsbook, the total (or Over/Under) for Gonzaga vs. McNeese State is 150.5 points. If you bet Over the total and they combine for more than 150.5 points then you win. If you bet Over and they combine for fewer than 150.5 points, then you lose.

How to Bet on March Madness: Futures Wagers

If you want some action on a team, but you don’t want to lay, say 20 points, for them to win one game in Round 1, then maybe you can bet on that team to win multiple games at one time.

All of the top sports betting apps have futures odds for every team, such as their odds to win the national championship, their odds to make the Final Four, or their odds to reach the Sweet 16.

Right now, No. 1 overall seed Connecticut is the favorite to win the championship at +400 odds. That means, if you bet $100 on the Huskies to win it all, and they do, you’d profit $400. If you want a longer shot, you might bet on Tennessee to win the title at +1500 odds.

One of our favorite futures wagers is Oregon to make the Sweet 16. The odds range from +450 to +550 depending on the sportsbook you choose.

A lot more needs to happen for you to win these types of wagers, but the payouts can be great.