The only sports bettor on Forbes recent list of Gambling Gurus, RJ Bell of Pregame.com recaps the first week of March Madness from the Vegas perspective.

Las Vegas, Nevada (3/23/08) - The NCAA Tournament is the biggest sports betting event of the year with over 12 BILLION expected to be bet. After the first two rounds, favorites are 31-17 against the spread. Favorites won an amazing 13 of 15 against the spread on Thursday (the odds against that happening were an eye-popping 270-1).

NO TEAM in the Sweet 16 was an underdog in both their first two games! (The three double-digit seeds left Villanova; W. Kentucky; Davidson were all favored in at least one of their games.)

#16 seeds are now 0-96 in round 1. #15 seeds are now 4-92 in round 1. #12 seeds now have a winning record (16-15) in round 2. #10 seeds are now 18-18 in round 2

No seed lower than #12 advanced to the 3rd round this year; of the last 384 Sweet 16 teams, only 6 have been lower than a #12 seed.

Two lower seeds are favored over higher seeds this week: #7 WVU favored by 1 over #3 Xavier. #3 Louisville favored by 2 over #2 Tennessee. UCLA -13 over W. Kentucky is the biggest favorite of the Sweet 16 round.

MEDIA NOTE: Print, radio, TV, and Internet media should feel free to quote any information above. Please attribute: RJ Bell of Pregame.com. RJ Bell is available for any follow-up questions or media appearances at: rjbell@pregame.com

See ALL of RJ Bells 2008 March Madness facts & stats at /madness-facts

About RJ Bell of Pregame.com
RJ Bell, president of /, has been featured on CBS News with Katie Couric, ABC News with Charles Gibson, Nightline, Sportscenter, Outside the Lines (ESPN), First Take (ESPN2), ESPN.com, ESPN National Radio, Yahoo, AOL.com, CNN.com and in Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, LA Times, Newsweek.com, Maxim, and Forbes.