LOUISVILLE, Ky. — For the first time, Kentuckians will be able to place wagers on the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments, following the launch of sports betting in Sept. 2023.

Kentucky will join 37 other states that allow sports gambling in placing an estimated $2.7 billion in wagers on this year’s tournaments, according to the American Gaming Association.

The Bluegrass State is also one of a half a dozen states to launch or expand sports betting since the University of Connecticut won last year’s men’s tournament. Nebraska began taking sports bets at casinos last June, though it doesn’t allow mobile wagers. Kentucky launched sports betting in September to coincide with the start of the NFL season, and Maine began doing so in November.

After a court victory, the Seminole Tribe of Florida in December began taking online sports bets in addition to wagers at its casinos. Betting has continued while a challenge is pending before the Florida Supreme Court.

In January, Vermont launched online sports betting.

North Carolina began permitting online sports wagering statewide on March 11, a day before the start of the popular ACC men’s basketball tournament but a day after the women’s tournament ended.

This is the sixth straight year that the number of states allowing sports betting has expanded since the last rendition of March Madness. A total of 38 states and the District of Columbia now allow some form of sports betting, including 30 states and the nation’s capital that allow online wagering.

That’s up from one state — Nevada — where people could legally wager on games during the 2018 college basketball tournaments, before the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for expansion.

Kentucky began its sports wagering using a staggered launch, with in-person betting starting on Sept. 7 and mobile app betting starting on Sept. 28.

The state predicts sports gambling would generate more than $20 million in tax revenue per year, but revenue is already far outpacing those projections. In the first four months of betting alone, over $15 million in tax revenue had already been generated.

According to the American Gaming Association, the total amount bet on all sports through legal wagering sites exceeded $121 billion in 2023, up 30% from the previous years. After paying out winnings, sports betting operators nationwide reaped $11 billion in revenue, up from about $7.5 billion the previous year.

“March Madness is the biggest kind of individual event of the year for sports betting,” said David Forman, the American Gaming Association vice president of research.

Looking to wager on your favorite Kentucky teams? On the men’s side, the University of Kentucky is a 13.5-point favorite over the Oakland Golden Grizzlies, according to FanDuel Sportsbook. Morehead State is an 11.5-point underdog to Illinois and Western Kentucky is a 14.5-point underdog to Marquette.

On the women’s side, the odds haven’t been set for Louisville’s game against Middle Tennesse, but Fanduel has the odds of them winning the 2024 championship at +50,000.