FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The only sports bettor on Forbes recent list of Gambling Gurus, RJ Bell of Pregame.com provides Final Four facts from a Vegas perspective.
Las Vegas, Nevada (3/30/08) - The NCAA Tournament is the biggest sports betting event of the year with over 12 BILLION expected to be gambled overall. The upcoming Final Four and Championship Game are likely to be the biggest wagered games of the entire March Madness.
For the first time since teams began to be seeded in 1979, four #1 seeds have made the Final Four. Illustrating how unlikely that is: only three times have even three #1 seeds made it (1999, 1997, 1993). 2008 will be the 20th straight year that the Champion will be a #4 seed or better, and this season will be the 7th in the last 10 years that the National Champ is a #1 seed.
Vegas has opened Memphis as a small 1 point favorite over UCLA. North Carolina is a 3 point favorite over Kansas. Favorites have dominated the tournament so far, winning 39 of 60 games (the chances of such extreme results were less than 1.5%).
Vegas says North Carolina has the best chance to win it all at 36%, followed by Kansas at 23%; Memphis 21%; UCLA 20%. If Memphis wins two more games, they will have 105 wins over the last 3 seasons, the most in NCAA history.
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.