The Final Four NCAA basketball tournament is still five months away;  However, that is not keeping away any online gamblers from taking early odds on their favorite picks.  The internet's best online sportsbooks are posting updated odds daily, which as of late, put Duke as the favorites for winning the championship with 4:1 odds.  Odds on Duke winning their conference do not pay out as good since the competition is not as intense as previous seasons.

The biggest challenges for the title are Connecticut - who are coming in at 9:1, Villanova - who are coming in at 10:1, and Louisville - who are now posting 12:1 odds.  There are many other teams in the mix who pose a formidable challenge to the main contenders, which means that the rest of the season will be a surprising one.

College basketball is mostly popular with U.S. bettors who hold accounts at offshore online casinos and sportsbooks.  However, its appeal is now growing in countries around the world, where it is considered a high profile event by the very same online sportsbooks that offer online bets on the European football and other popular European sports.

March Madness is when all will be said and done - and a winner of the Final Four will provide for some large payoffs to online gamblers who are making their bets ahead of time.  Bettors should remember that in terms of "futures bets", the odds payoffs will remain at what they were when the bet was made.  Even if the odds fluctuate at a later date before the event, the bettor still is awarded their original odds.