March 15, 2011 2:49PM # Book ‘Em, Danno By [David Boaz](https://www.cato.org/people/david-boaz) --- SHARE I hope you’ve got your NCAA bracket in by now. The NCAA [estimates](http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/mar/14/150823/na-want-to-bet-its-good-for-office/) that 35 million Americans will do so. But keep in mind: As the *Washington Post* [notes](http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/ncaa-tournament-will-bigger-field-scare-folks-out-of-the-pools/2011/03/10/ABUepJS_story.html), you’re breaking the law: > Office pools, despite the warnings of law enforcement officials, are among the country’s most popular illegal activities. The FBI estimates that roughly $2.5 billion is gambled on the NCAA tournament, and only $80 million is bet legally through Nevada sports books. A good portion of the rest takes the form of $5 or $10 entry fees to participate in a bracket-pick NCAA tournament pool. Is this the most popular illegal activity in America? Well, the Office of National Drug Control Policy [says](http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/drugfact/marijuana/marijuana_ff.html) that 104 million Americans have used marijuana, 28.5 million in the past year. Does it make sense to criminalize peaceful activity that tens of millions of Americans enjoy? Discuss. ##### Related Tags [Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Regulation](https://www.cato.org/regulatory-studies), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).