A little illegal activity never hurt anyone - at least during March.

If you have the gambling itch as the NCAA men's basketball tournament rolls around this month, well, it's just too bad. Like most of the country, gambling on sports is illegal in Michigan, even at area casinos.

"There was a law that put in effect, voted on by congress in the 1980s, that any state that didn't already have a legalized sports book wasn't allowed to have it," Four Winds Casino General Manager Matt Harkness said. "There is only, I believe, maybe three states that have sports books approved. One place that does is obviously Las Vegas."

So for those of us who are hundreds of miles away from Sin City, this leaves tournament prediction pools, which quite frankly makes March Madness what it is, in the hands of offices, homes and circles of friends.

Law enforcement generally seems to cast a blind eye to the prevalence of this misdeed. However, there is still enough paranoia wafting around that Mark, an employee at a local accounting firm, chose to withhold his last name and place of business when describing his hopes of cashing in some green while watching roughly 48 hours of college hoops.

"It would still be a great tourney and fun to watch, but the pools give everyone, including the casual fan that knows nothing about sports, something to root for in every single game," he said.

Participating in a March Madness pool doesn't necessarily equate you with the hardened sports gambler whose running the risk of having their knee caps busted by an angry bookie.

"I'd say it's a different motivation for different people," Mark said. "I do it just as much for the bragging right as for the money. Others might be in it more for the money."