College Basketball Public Betting and Money Percentages

Where is the money going? That’s a question sharp bettors are always eager to know the answer to, but not always for the same reason. This page displays the betting splits – both the bet percentages (number of bets placed on a certain team) and money percentages (how much of the total handle is bet on a certain team) – for the college basketball games involving ranked teams from one or more of the nation’s leading online sportsbooks.

The information on this page is in reverse chronological order (most-recent at the top). Under the most-recent betting-splits image, find the public’s record for the season. Betting splits from previous days are located under the public-record table.

NCAAB Public Betting Trends (April 4)

NCAAB public betting splits for the national championship game as of April 4, 2022

The opening betting splits for the title game between UNC and Kansas show some notable trends:

• the favored Jayhawks are getting 56% of the ATS betting money as a four-point favorite;
• yesterday, UNC had received 57% of the moneyline handle as a +155 underdog, but that has flipped; Kansas is now getting 54% of the moneyline handle as -190 chalk, and UNC’s price has actually grown to +160.

Public’s NCAAB Betting Record

Note that during the regular season, this page only tracked the public’s betting record in games with at least one top-25 team (starting in late January 2022). During the 2022 NCAA Tournament, it tracked the NCAAB public betting record for all March Madness games.

In the first round of the NCAA Tournament, we only received bet and money percentages for 31 of the 32 games played, TCU vs Seton Hall being the game left out. Two more of the games had ATS money splits of 50-50, which is why you’re seeing a record of 17-12 (only 29 games) in the table above.

Previous NCAAB Public Betting Trends (April 2)

NCAAB public betting splits for the Final Four as of April 2, 2022.

The image above shows the most-recent betting spits on the Final Four games:

• The ATS splits are relatively even in both games, with no team betting more than 56% of the ATS betting handle.
• The over is getting a ton of money in both games, even with the O/U in both games increasing in by a full point since opening on Sunday night.

What Are NCAAB Public Betting Percentages?

Basically, this page is tracking the amount of money bet on each team in a college basketball game. Sportsbooks monitor the amount of money their customers have wagered on NCAAB teams (in order to effectively manage their exposure) and then share that information with SBD.

The public betting percentages are split into the percentage of the handle and the percentage of the bets a team has received from the public. The difference between those two concepts is explained below.

What Does “% Handle” Mean?

The percentage of the total handle means the amount of money bet on Team X compared to their opponent. If Team X has received 60% of the ATS (“against the spread”) betting handle, that means $60 out of every $100 wagered on this game has been on Team X to cover the spread. The remaining 40% will have been wagered on the opponent.

In a two-team game, both the bet percentage and handle percentage will always add up to 100%.

What Does “% Bets” Mean?

The bet percentage refers to how many individual wagers have been on Team X compared to their opponent.

Let’s say ten total ATS wagers were made on a game between Gonzaga and Baylor. Four people bet $20 on Gonzaga, one person bet $50 on Gonzaga, three people bet $30 on Baylor, and two people bet $100 on Baylor.

In this case, the bet percentage is split evenly between the two teams (five bets on Gonzaga and five bets on Baylor).

However, the handle percentage is strongly in favor of Baylor. The five total bets on the Bears add up to $290. The five total bets on the Zags add up to just $130.  Since Baylor has received $290 out of $420 in total bets, its handle percentage is 69%, leaving a 31% handle percentage for Gonzaga.

What Does It Mean When “% Handle” and “% Bets” Favor Different Teams?

If you see betting splits where Team X is getting more of the total bets and Team Y is getting more of the total handle, the general takeaway is that people are placing larger wagers on Team Y.

Often, this means that sharp bettors are betting on Team Y (as sharps tend to bet more than Joe Public). But that’s not always the case, and blindly following the handle percentage in such instances is not a sure-fire way to tail sharp bettors.

The raw bet and handle percentage do not tell you how many people have wagered on this game nor who they are. Plenty of non-sharp bettors will make large, risky wagers without the diligent research successful professional bettors put into their work.