The Cost Of March Madness Betting Season
Published: Friday, March 17, 2006 Online-Casinos.com
THE COST OF MARCH MADNESS BETTING SEASON
U.S. business losses in the billions
With the March Madness betting season in full swing in the USA, a nationally
respected workplace consultant, John Challenger, of Challenger, Gray &
Christmas, calculates the cost of March Madness-related lost productivity in U.S.
workplaces in the billions.
This year, Challenger predicts it will be worse than ever, thanks to a CBS decision
to offer free online viewing of tournament games involving teams from outside
those local markets. The restriction on online viewing of local teams is designed
to encourage viewers from the Kansas City area, for example, to watch the Kansas
Jayhawks on television.
Challenger estimates a whopping wage and productivity loss to employers as high
as $3.8 billion over the 19-day tournament.
A survey last year by Vault Inc. indicated that six in 10 employees have
participated in an office betting pool, with the NCAA tournament accounting for
more than a third of those activities.
Challenger’s March Madness cost estimate drew from the Bureau of Labor
Statistics’ current average hourly wage for U.S. workers of about $18.
Using a Gallup Poll finding that 41 percent of Americans are college basketball
fans, he applied that to the number of working Americans (142.8 million) and then
factored in a relatively scant 13.5 minutes that the average fan spent on the
ESPN.com college basketball Web site during the 2005 NCAA tournament.
“The reality is that they will likely spend much more time online during
the workday keeping track of games and managing their brackets,” Challenger
said.
BETonSports, a publicly traded online wagering company, said March is the
biggest online gambling month of the year.
Last year, between $2.5 billion and $3 billion was bet through Internet sports
books alone during March Madness, and the company expects the total to be 20 percent
higher this year.
