The month-long NCAA March Madness tournament kicking off Tuesday is expected to attract billions of dollars in both legal and illegal wagers.
The American Gaming Association, the leading national trade group representing the U.S. casino industry, released a study Monday predicting that as many as 47 million Americans would wager a collective $8.5 billion on March Madness.
That shakes out to one in every five adults who are expected to place a bet during the college basketball tournament, according to the AGA. The study was commissioned by the AGA and conducted by global survey company Morning Consult, which polled 11,000 U.