Las Vegas casinos have long benefited from activity surrounding their sportsbooks during March Madness, the NCAA basketball tournament. Next year promises to be even madder.
The NCAA announced that the 2023 West Regional section of the tournament, including Sweet 16 and Elite Eight matchups, will be played at T-Mobile Arena on the Las Vegas Strip. This means the normal activity surrounding Clark County’s 99 sportsbooks, where celebration always heats up during the first four days of the annual tournament, will carry the celebration into the second week. The winners of those games move on to the tournament’s Final Four.
“There is no better place than Las Vegas where you can bring together people like you can for March Madness or any other major sporting event,” said Brendan Bussmann, director of government affairs for Las Vegas-based Global Market Advisors, in an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “And that includes sports wagering. While sports betting expands across the United States, it still comes back to our destination for events like those three weeks of basketball.”
“Even with the legalization of sports betting throughout the U.S., Las Vegas offers a unique venue for March Madness,” added Amanda Belarmino, an assistant professor at the William F. Harrah College of Hospitality at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. “The casinos offer an unrivaled viewing experience for basketball fans, where they can easily watch all of the games in one place with access to a variety of food and beverage options.”
With the Final Four matchups normally reserved for stadiums, there is talk of one of the semifinals of the 2024 tournament possibly being held at the Las Vegas Raiders’ Allegiant Stadium, which will host the Super Bowl that year.
