March madness? Strategic behavior in NCAA basketball tournament betting pools

This paper uses data from the natural experiment of NCAA Basketball Tournament: ''betting pools'' in a descriptive study of strategic behavior. The observed behavior in these pools differs from equilibrium behavior in a robust manner; betters overback the heaviest favorites. The size of this bias falls slightly in larger pools, where the induced profit opportunities are higher than in smaller pools. This indicates that a small number of players are adjusting their behavior to reflect the changing strategic situation, while the aggregate behavior remains away from equilibrium.