How to Set Up an NCAA Bracket Pool
Every year, 64 NCAA basketball teams compete in the NCAA Tournament. This event is often referred to as "March Madness," because it begins in March. NCAA bracket pools involve selecting which team you think will win each game. Points are awarded for every game picked correctly, with the winner having the most total points.
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Instructions
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Know the law. Betting pools are illegal in almost every state. (Ref. 1.) One exception is Vermont, which recently passed a law allowing people to participate in noncommercial forms of betting, with certain restrictions. Many other states have exemptions for certain charitable organizations. Nevertheless, it is illegal in every state to make interstate telephone calls in order to participate in a betting pool. Moreover, the courts have suggested that it is also illegal to use the Internet to participate in a betting pool. (Ref. 1.)
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Locate a copy of the NCAA bracket. The bracket will be available in March every year. In 2010, the bracket will be available on March 14. (See http://www.squidoo.com/march-madness-2010) Note that the bracket will be available in most newspapers and online sites, such as espn.com. Once you have located the NCAA bracket, you will need to make enough copies to pass out two examples to everyone participating in the pool.
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Assign point values for each round of the NCAA tournament. You can assign any point values that you want. However, the point values for a correct pick generally increase with each round of the tournament, culminating with the NCAA championship game. (Ref. 2.) One example of a point value system is as follows:
1 point for 1st round games
2 points for 2nd round games
3 points for 3rd round games
4 points for 4th round games
6 points for 5th round games
8 points for the NCAA championship game -
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Distribute two copies of the bracket to everyone participating in the pool. Instruct each participant to fill out one copy and return it to you. This way, they will keep one copy in case there is a dispute. In addition to picking the winners, instruct each participant to guess the score of the NCAA championship game. This will serve as a tie-breaker.
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Collect the money from each participant. If you are in a state where betting pools are illegal, you will want to skip this part and simply play for bragging rights. Once the brackets and money are collected, watch the games and keep track of the points. Note that there is at least one Internet site that offers a free program to help with this aspect of the pool. (Res. 1.)
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