$1 Billion for a Perfect N.C.A.A. Bracket, Courtesy of Warren Buffett

Each March, tens of millions of brackets are filled out in the hopes of predicting the outcome of the N.C.A.A.’s men’s basketball tournament. But the odds that a bracket will be perfect, that is, every game guessed correctly, are long — to the tune of 9.2 quintillion to one.

So don’t bet on anyone winning the $1 billion being offered by Quicken Loans, the Detroit-based mortgage lender, with the backing of Warren E. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, to anyone who fills out a perfect 2014 tournament bracket. The prize money will be paid out in 40 annual payments of $25 million, or a one-time lump sum of $500 million. The first 10 million people who enter the contest will be eligible for the grand prize.