To see the tectonic shift in sports betting, look no further than March Madness.

A Morning Consult survey commissioned by the American Gaming Association found that 47 million Americans will make bets on the NCAA Tournament, starting on Thursday.

Two major trends: many are swapping out brackets for traditional up-or-down bets, such as whether or not Gonzaga will make the Final Four, and online betting is surging. 

• The raw number of bettors is expected to be roughly equal to 2019, but the amount betting online will more than triple to 17.8 million from 5.8 million in 2019. The 2020 tournament was canceled due to the pandemic.
• That figure accounts for much of the surge in traditional bets, which will rise 72% to 30.6 million, according to the survey.

About 36.7 million people are expected to fill out a March Madness bracket this year, an 8% dip from 2019.

“The sports betting landscape has changed dramatically since 2019 – and as a result, tournament betting has transformed,” said AGA President and CEO Bill Miller, who noted the effect of legalized sports betting in half the U.S. states and Washington D.C.

New York, New Jersey, Illinois, and Virginia each have a provision in their sports betting laws that make it illegal to bet on college teams within their home state.

AmericanAirlines Arena, home of the Miami Heat, may see cryptocurrency platform FTX become the newest sponsor of the venue. Though it’s still named after the airline, American’s 20-year deal expired in 2019.

If the partnership with FTX goes through, it would mark the first time a cryptocurrency exchange has held naming rights to a professional sports venue in the States.

While there’s been no official announcement, the Miami Herald reported that ftxarena.com has been registered as a domain name by an unidentified party and accounts with the potential arena name were found on social media.

American Airlines paid the Heat about $2.1 million per year for naming rights to the stadium. Miami-Dade County has been paying the team nearly the same amount while it searches for a new partner.

In other crypto meets sports news, the Oakland A’s are offering all-season suite tickets for one Bitcoin, which jumped to over $60,000 for the first time last week. The Dallas Mavericks began accepting Dogecoin for tickets and merchandise earlier this month.

In February, Forbes said the Heat is worth $2.38 billion, good enough for 12th most valuable team in the NBA. Miami-Dade County reportedly wants to land an arena naming rights deal that runs through the 2029-30 season.

Kevin Durant is doubling down on New York-based teams, this time with an esports investment.

The Brooklyn Nets star’s Thirty Five Ventures is investing in Andbox, an esports organization and team operator. Andbox has franchises in “Call of Duty” and “Overwatch” leagues, and sponsors other teams and players.

Thirty Five Ventures, which Durant co-founded in 2016 with investor Rich Kleinman, has invested in startups involved in athlete performance, cannabis, trading cards, financial literacy, and more. It will partner with Andbox on new content and merchandise.

“The passion that New York sports fans have has really hit home with me,” said Durant. “Andbox is bringing that same energy to esports here, and that’s something Thirty Five Ventures is very excited to be a part of.”

This isn’t Durant’s first esports investment. In 2018, he joined Odell Beckham Jr. and the St. Louis Cardinals in buying into Vision Esports, an esports investment fund, as part of a $38 million capital raise. 

Esports have attracted a slew of high-profile investors, including Michael Jordan, Shaq, A-Rod, Steve Young, Steph Curry, Mike Tyson, and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.

Andbox counts actor Michael B. Jordan, former Turner president David Levy, Warby Parker CEO Neil Blumenthal, GIPHY COO Adam Leibsohn, and Dapper Labs CEO Roham Gharegozlou among its supporters.