Granite Staters wagered over $25 million during March Madness in 2026

(PRESS RELEASE) -- March Madness kicked off with the conference tournaments and exploded once the NCAA brackets dropped. New Hampshire Lottery players made more than 550,000 wagers totaling more than $25 million on this year’s men’s and women’s NCAA Basketball tournaments. The tournaments ended earlier this week as Michigan emerged victorious for the men and UCLA cut the nets down on the women’s side.

“March is a special time of year for basketball, there’s nothing like these tournaments. Dozens of games at all times of the day to kick off, buzzer beaters that send home tournament favorites, Cinderella runs from unassuming small schools, all culminating in two teams on the top of the mountain – and hopefully lots of wagers won by our New Hampshire players,” said Charlie McIntyre, Executive Director, New Hampshire Lottery. “With so many ways and opportunities to bet, March Madness is our largest sustained sports betting driver every single year. While I love watching as many games as I can, the best part of the tournaments is seeing all these wagers come in to support New Hampshire public education.”

New Hampshire players heavily wagered on the UConn, Florida and Duke men’s teams as champions prior to the start of the tournament. Pre-tournament on the women’s side, Granite State bettors were favoring UConn, South Carolina and UCLA. Only one New Hampshire pre-tournament betting favorite helped players cash in – the UCLA women, who blew out South Carolina in a game oddsmakers expected to be a close contest. On the men’s side, Michigan took home their first national title since 1989 in a tight contest against New Hampshire’s betting favorite UConn.

Since the inception of sports betting in New Hampshire on December 30, 2019, Granite Staters have wagered nearly $4.5 billion, which has generated $187 million to support New Hampshire public education.

New Hampshire residents can download the DraftKings Sportsbook app to place wagers through DraftKings, the exclusive digital sportsbook operator in New Hampshire. Sports fans can place bets on the DraftKings Sportsbook app via iOS and Android or online at Sportsbook.DraftKings.com.

Together, DraftKings and the New Hampshire Lottery take responsible gaming seriously and the top-rated DraftKings Sportsbook app offers consumers a number of responsible gaming tools, including My Stat Sheet, a gaming tool that gives players the ability to assess, track and interact with their personal gaming stats, as well as limit setting, cooling-off periods, and self-exclusion.