Why don't casinos take bets on NCAA tourney brackets?

Every year, the faithful journey to Las Vegas to lay down March Madness money, and every year, they target their own schools and perhaps that fabled 5-12 upset. But why don’t Vegas casinos, the heart and soul of gambling in this country, offer up some kind of overall bracket challenge?

You’d think a full bracket game would be an easy way for casinos to make money, given how many brackets get busted like eggshells by the tournament’s first Friday. Heck, if the guy over in Human Resources can whip up a pool with a copy machine and a coffee can, surely a multimillion-dollar casino operation could do so. No-brainer, right?

Wrong, as it turns out. The limitations are both logistical and technological, according to Jay Rood, VP of Race and Sports at MGM International.

At the moment, MGM does not have the software capable of handling thousands of complete-bracket bets. Think about what’s involved in entering a single bracket – 63 different games – then consider thousands of similar brackets all hitting the system at once. It’s a technological hurdle MGM hasn’t yet cleared.

“Grading the brackets is a nightmare,” Rood says. “We’re upgrading our system in the fall, and we may be capable of handling more.”

Plus, there are simple logistical challenges.

In Vegas, you have to place your bet in person, which is far trickier than banging out 63 picks on a Yahoo bracket ten minutes before the first tip-off. A significant percentage of March Madness casino-goers arrive after the first games have tipped off – Friday is one of the busiest sports days of the year – making them ineligible to deliver a pre-tourney bracket.

“So many of our customers are transient,” Rood says. “Only a small number get in on time.”

That said, there’s the possibility that bracket picking could be in play soon. Some smaller casinos in Vegas, primarily catering to locals, do a version of a round-by-round bracket challenge. Gamblers pick the first round, compile point totals, then return to pick the second, accumulating points along the way. But again—this is an option not available to non-Vegas folk. Legal gambling on the internet remains a murky-at-best prospect.

Still, it’s clear the interest is there. Where there’s interest, there’s money, and where there’s money, there’s a solution. Rood said he’s tinkering with the possibility of offering various odds for various point totals after each round – getting 25 of 32 right pays out at a certain rate, and getting 30 of 32 pays out at a better one, for instance.

A Vegas payout for bracket acumen would be a wonderful thing. For now, though, you’ll have to content yourself with beating everyone in your office.

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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter.

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