How To Bet On NBA – The Complete Guide
The NBA is one of the most popular sports in the United States and worldwide. 82 regular season games, playoffs and finals make NBA incredibly fun and potentially profitable betting experience. New to NBA betting or looking to expand your betting knowledge? Learn here how to bet on NBA!
NBA betting is not easy, though, especially if you don’t know where or how to get started. Thankfully, we have compiled this great resource to help get you started on the road towards profitability.
What is NBA?
The NBA (National Basketball Association) is one of the most popular and most bet on sporting league in the world. The tournament now features 30 teams based all over the US and Canada. The league is separated into two conferences that are each divided further down into three divisions with five teams in each. The regular season for NBA basketball is 82 games, with half at home and half on the road.
How to Bet on NBA
As the biggest basketball league in the world, the NBA is a prime market for amateur and expert sports bettors to make some serious cash. With so many games and such a large following, the betting options are endless. If you’re brand new to betting and a bit confused about everything, continue reading this article… we will explain how to bet on NBA and all the different bet types step by step.
NBA Money Line
Basketball has a wide array of different bets you can pick from when you’re looking to make a wager on a team or a game. Money line betting is one of the most basic ways of betting on NBA games. In money lines, you bet on the outcome of a match – that is, which team becomes the winner (including overtime).
NBA Point Spreads
Point spread betting are one of the easiest way to bet on NBA basketball. It is also known as Handicap betting. A point spread helps even the game from a betting perspective between two teams that aren’t evenly matched. A point handicap is generally applied to the favorite team. Anyway, a handicap can work in two ways: either the underdog team is given hypothetical extra points in the beginning of the game, or the favorite has points taken out of their tally.
Point spreads create an even playing field for sports bettors. Some professional or seasoned bettors only use the point spread bets and are wildly successful.
For example, the Cleveland Cavaliers at home are extremely likely to beat the Dallas Mavericks. To make the game more interesting, the point spread on that game might be Dallas +10.5 at Cleveland -10.5.
In this scenario, bettors who take the Mavericks win on their wager if they pull off the upset or if they lose by less than 10 points. Bettors who take the Cavaliers will need Cleveland to win the game by 11 points or more to cash their tickets.
NBA Totals
Totals bets allow bettors to wager on whether a game will go OVER or UNDER a set number of points. This includes the points scored by both teams in the match, including the possible overtime.
If the total is set at 175.5, the combined total of points between the two teams must be 176 or over for the OVER to cash or 175 or under for the UNDER to hit.
NBA Prop Bets
The term “prop bet” is short for “proposition bet“. Prop bets are one of the most exciting and fun bet types that you can make on a game. Most sportsbooks offer some variety of these types of bets, usually in OVER/UNDER form like totals. For example, you might see props like “Will Stephen Curry score more or less than 29.5 points?”
While some people write-off props as “sucker bets” due to their popularity among casual bettors, there are plenty of bettors who make huge profits wagering on them. You can actually use your knowledge and strategies to try and win.
You can find tons of “skilled” prop bets also on assist, rebound, steals, blocks, etc.. On the other hand, unskilled prop bets are bets that are straight gambling – eg. “Will there be over five blocks in the game?” or “Which team will score the first 3-pointer?” or “How many fouls will there be in the 4th quarter?“. Unskilled prop bets are the funniest ones but they should strictly be used for fun gambling and not be part of your money-winning strategy.
Future Bets
With futures, you are betting on the likelihood that something will happen at some point in the future. Hence, futures are long-term bets on bigger questions such as “Who will win the NBA championship?” or “Who will be the Rookie of the Year?“.
NBA Betting Odds
NBA betting odds are tipically displayed in the American format, such as +300, -150, +250, etc..
A negative number tells you how much you have to bet to win $100. If the odds are -110, you have to wager $110 to win $100. Hence, negative odds are used for favorite teams.
A positive number, such as +250, tells you how much you WIN if you bet $100. In this case, with a $100 bet you win $250 (on top of your $100 bet). Hence, a plus-sign denotes an underdog.
NBA Betting Sites
If you’re looking to get started betting pre-match or in-play, we have compiled a list of our highest recommended and most trusted NBA betting sites.
*** LISTA ***
The sites we’ve recommended typically have the most competitive odds, a great variety of bets, security and trustworthiness, amazing bonus promotions and free money.
