March Madness is one of the most popular events of the year for sports bettors. But this year, Canadians are being introduced to March Madness on ice.
Unlike your typical bonspiel, the PointsBet Invitational is a single-knockout tournament featuring 32 Canadian teams — 16 women’s and 16 men’s — that will be played in Fredericton, New Brunswick, from Sept. 21-25.' The first major competition of the curling season will also be the first ever single-elimination curling championship.
Not only can you bet on every aspect of this March Madness-style curling event, but fans are also being invited by PointsBet to participate in a free “Sweep 16 Bracket Challenge.” A grand prize of $1 million (CAD) will be awarded to the entry that correctly guesses the outcome of all 30 matches at the event. The contest is open to residents of Canada, excluding Quebec, and participants need to be 19 years of age or older at the time of entry.
“If you’re just going with a coin flip, the odds of picking a perfect 16-team bracket are 1-32,768. The odds of getting both brackets perfect are one in 1,073,741,824,” a PointsBet trader told . “But I would estimate the odds of a perfect bracket, for a curling expert, are around one in 800, which means getting both brackets perfect would be around one in 640,000.”
In order to boost your odds of winning the bracket challenge, we spoke to a few curling aficionados about how they’re handicapping this unique event.
Pro picks
Mary Chilvers, one half of the curling podcast alongside co-host Lori Eddy, knows a thing or two about curling. Chilvers, Eddy, and their teammates were recently crowned the Ontario women’s senior champions and will be competing for the national senior championship in December.
Season 8 Opener will be released tomorrow around 1pm and you won't want to miss it! HUGE news for @2GirlsAndAGame will be announced in the episode! ????#curling pic.twitter.com/BFvRTr6Tr4
— 2 Girls And A Game (@2GirlsAndAGame) September 19, 2022