The Best Free March Madness Bracket Contests & More

Updated: March 19, 2024 at 2:07 pm PDT

Filling out a March Madness bracket is a favorite annual tradition amongst American sports fans.

It’s common to compete with your friends and coworkers for bragging rights, but did you know several top US sportsbooks and media companies run free March Madness contests offering upwards of $10 million in cash prizes?

If you have a knack for picking winners, try these free-to-play NCAA tournament contests for a chance to win big with no risk whatsoever.

Here are the best free March Madness contests for 2024.

#1: Bet365 $10 Million Perfect Bracket Challenge

Another operators offering up $10 million for a perfect March Madness bracket is Bet365. Like we mentioned above, creating a flawless March Madness bracket is nearly impossible, and Bet365 is willing to award anyone who pulls it off with a $10 million grand prize.

Use our exclusive links to and put your bracket together for a shot at $10 million. Even if your bracket isn’t perfect, there are still 5000 prizes to be won, including a $100,000 prize for the best bracket. Creating a perfect March Madness bracket is nearly impossible, which is why we love that this contest has a solid consolation prize for the participant(s) that predicts the most correct outcomes throughout the tournament.

#2: BetMGM $100,000 Sleeper Sixteen

BetMGM’s free-to-play Sleeper Sixteen contest has a guaranteed share of prizes totaling $100,000. Just spin the wheel to reveal which team seeded 10-16 you’re aligned with. If they make it through to the Sweet 16 round, then you’ll be eligible to split the pool of $100,000 in bonus bets.

To enter, sign up for a BetMGM sportsbook account and spin the wheel. This is a great way to get a shot at additional bonus bets for the rest of the tournament, and you won’t have to put much thought into it after toiling over crafting your perfect bracket.

#3: DraftKings Zero Right Bracket Challenge: Win $100K

DraftKings, along with Allen Iverson, encourages you to make mistakes during March Madness with their Zero Right Bracket Challenge presented by Pepsi. There’s $100,000 in prizes up for grabs for having a bad bracket.

The unpredictability of March Madness will make you want to enter this contest with a guaranteed prize pool of $100,000. Fill out you bracket between March 18 and March 21, and for every team you pick correctly, you’ll earn points. The catch is, you’ll want as few points as possible to have a shot at the $100,000 in prizes. Just like the basketball teams, if you get eliminated, there’s no way back in.

Prizes will be distributed amongst the longest surviving participants. And if you haven’t already registered with DraftKings Sportsbook, make sure to do so and claim their Bet $5, Get $150 promo.

#4: FanDuel $50,000 Tourney Shuffle’Em

FanDuel Fantasy is giving fans a shot at $50,000 in total prizes for the 2024 March Madness tournament with their $50,000 Tourney Shuffle’Em free contest.

The rules for this March Madness free contest are simple. If you can guess the Final Four teams that make it through to the semi-finals of the Tournament, you’ll win a share of $50,000 in prizes. Just enter the contest on FanDuel Fantasy and check out your card that has Final Four teams randomly shuffled. If you don’t like the combinations presented to you, you can reshuffle the team combinations up to 20 times. Any contestants with a correct Final Four card will split the $50,000 in prizes evenly.

Aside from the FanDuel free contest, make sure you register with FanDuel Sportsbook if you haven’t already for their Bet $5, Get $200 in Bonus Bets welcome offer.

#5: ESPN Tournament Challenge

The ESPN Tournament Challenge is the OG of free March Madness contests. The official broadcast partner of The Big Dance runs separate contests for the men’s and women’s NCAA tournaments, so you have multiple chances to win a share of $125,000 in total prizes.

To enter, select the teams you think will win each game from the first round all the way through the championships. You’ll get points for each winner you pick correctly, with the points increasing throughout each round.

The Men’s Tournament Challenge is now open following Selection Sunday, while the Women’s Tournament Challenge brackets will be available shortly after.

You must make all of your picks for each tournament before the first round tips off. Want more chances to win? ESPN will allow you to create up to 25 different brackets for each tournament, so you can mix it up when making your selections. Pro tip: far fewer women’s brackets get filled out each year, so you have a much better shot at the grand prize in the women’s Tournament Challenge.

#6: Yahoo Tourney Pick’Em

Yahoo! Fantasy is giving away $50,000 in cash prizes with their free Tourney Pick’Em contest.

The rules are straightforward:

Sign up and fill out a complete March Madness bracket once the tournament seedings are confirmed on Selection Sunday
Don’t forget to make a final score prediction for the title game – this serves as a tiebreaker
Sit back and watch the games

Screenshot of Yahoo Tourney Pick'Em contest

Yahoo is awarding grand prizes of $25,000 to the winners in each tournament with the best bracket.

The Yahoo Tourney Pick’Em contest is now open, and brackets will be available to fill out until the official start of the tournament.

Check Back for More Free March Madness Contests

You can’t win if you don’t play, so we recommend signing up for as many free March Madness bracket contests as you can find. It’s sure to add some extra excitement to following the tournament.

We’ll keep our eye out for additional March Madness contests you can enter. Our team will update this list as more information becomes available.

Be sure to check out our tips for creating your March Madness bracket to help improve your chances of winning one of these contests. Or, if you prefer, keep browsing our interesting articles on sports and betting.

Have fun and enjoy the action!

Mitchell South

Content Marketing Specialist

A sports fanatic and strategic wordsmith, Mitchell has been writing gaming content for over seven years. As sports betting emerges in markets across the globe, he’s ready to journey alongside those who haven’t wagered before with informative articles and comprehensive how-to guides.

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