Growing up in North Carolina, I am acutely aware of the spring ritual in which the hopes and dreams of college basketball fans come swirling together into the NCAA's annual tournament.

A longstanding part of the March Madness ritual has been forecasting the winners (aka filling in brackets) – and betting on them. For decades, most of what I saw were low-wager pools among co-workers or friends. Although I knew there was big money flying around.

Today, there's no mystery about big money in sports........

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