The Ultimate Guide on How to Bet on Basketball - Tips, Strategies and More

Welcome to your one-stop-shop for mastering the world of basketball betting. This comprehensive guide takes you by the hand, moving you from the initial basics to highly tactical bets favoured by professionals. By investing your time here, you will discover how to boost your betting skills, increase your wins, and maximize your betting profits.

Types of Bet: Lines and Spreads

Basketball is huge for betting purposes and the NBA is one of the most popular sporting leagues the world over. 

For that reason, combined with the fact many fans also like to bet on NBA games, there is a wide range of bet types, some obvious, some more complicated.

Free Bets and Special Odds are regularly on offer from the bookmakers, these specials often involve star players or notable teams. 

• LeBron, N.Jokic & J.Tatum 25+ Pts Each 
• Boston Celtics to go 41-0 at home in the Regular Season 
• In Which Game Will LeBron James Score his 40,000th Regular Season Point

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You will recognise many of these bets if you have bet on other American sports, so let's take a look at the most popular first.

Handicap betting

You will find with most American sports like Football, Baseball and Ice Hockey that handicap bets are the most common. 

The reason for this is that there are a lot of one-sided matchups in American sport. 

This isn't so much the case in basketball as there are a lot of closer games, but handicap betting is still the most popular approach.

Katelyn Mulcahy // Getty Images

The other reason why handicap betting is in place is that in most American sports a draw is not possible as at the end of the normal play time; if the scores are tied, games go into extra time to determine a winner.

The handicap prevent such an outcome so that there is definite winner.

Point Spread

The point spread is a handicap bet on a basketball match and is usually the most popular type of bet to place on a basketball fixture.  

The point spread is also the most popular market in the NBA Betting Tips page on OLBG. 

The idea of the point spread is that the team that is least likely to win is given enough of a head start to make both teams the same odds (so all bets will be a fraction odds on).

The bigger the difference between the two sides the bigger the point spread will be but betting on the point spread requires many of the same considerations in betting on the match outcome. 

When looking for a value match outcome bet you look for a team that the bookies have underestimated and when looking for a good bet in the point spread you look for a team that has been given a generous handicap for their match by the bookies. 

It is also worth shopping around with the best betting sites the prices will remain the same but the handicaps will differ and you want to find the best handicap for your selection.

We also have a comprehensive comparison of 60+ UK bookmakers who are best for your basketball betting. 

How to bet on the Point Spread

If you want to make a bet on the point spread on a basketball match in the NBA, you will have to find the game you want to bet on first and navigate to the point spread market on your bookmaker app.

You will have each of the two teams listed with a + or - and a figure next to them. 

Let us take the Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons from the Central Division as a point spread example. 

Team	Spread	Odds
Chicago Bulls	-4.5	1.91
Detroit Pistons	+4.5	1.91

The first thing you may notice is that the odds are the same for either choice. 

The idea of the handicap is the predictions from the bookmakers of how many points better one team is deemed to be over the other and a prediction to make the game as even as possible, hence the same odds, 

The bookie feels with the point spread in place the teams now enter the game evenly matched.

All you have to do now is decide one of three things:

#1 Can Chicago Bulls win by at least 5 points?

#2 Can the Detroit Pistons lose by less than 4.5 points or Bulls win by less when 4.5 points?

#3 Can the Detroit Pistons overcome the handicap and win by more points anyway?

If you bet the Bulls to win, they have to win by more than five points for scenario #1 to be a winner for you at odds of 1.91.

If you bet on the Pistons +4.5, as long as they hit either #2 or #3 above and lose by less than 4.5 points your bet at 1.91 would be a winner.

Why is there half in the spread?

The reason you see halves in the spread is so that it is possible to bet on either side of the handicap.

If the number was whole it brings in the option of a drawn game where there would be no winning bets. 

A whole point spread can often be found with a 'push' (Stake returned/ or a Void bet), should the draw be the result once the handicap is factored in.

Total Points - Under/Over

Another very popular bet on basketball matches is a bet on the total points scored during a match. 

You don’t have to call the exact number of points, simply bet on over or under the points tally suggested by the bookies. 

Philly @Orlando	Paddy Power	Bet Victor	Unibet	Sporting Index	Boylesports	Betway
Over 216.5 Points	1.53	1.58	1.53	1.57	1.62	1.61

The points tally will vary between matches as per the points spread, the bookies select the points tally in order to create equal odds for overs and unders, so you should find you get a shade of odds on whichever outcome you select. 

Shopping between bookmakers should allow you to pick the best total points outcome selected by the bookmaker for your bet, 

If you are planning to bet on overs you want the points offered by the bookie to be lower and if you are betting on under you want the points offered by the bookie to be higher.

Understand where the game is being played!

The @ sign means the first team mentioned is playing away. This can be confusing at first as in the UK the 'home' team is always mentioned first.

How to bet on Totals in Basketball

If you have ever had a bet on soccer and played the total goals markets of under over 1.5, 2.5, 3.5 etc then you should understand how this bet works.

Of course there are many more points scored in a basketball game than you will find in your normal football matches, so the number is going to be much higher. 

Generally speaking the totals range between 190-210 points in total. 

Lets head off to the Atlantic Division now for the Boston Celtics @ New York Knicks. 

Here the bookmakers have decided to offer a totals line of 204.5, providing the options to bet that there will be more than 205 points in total or less than 205 points. Again, often the odds will be the same either side of the spread, or very close.

Teams	Under/Over	Odds
Boston Celtics @New York Knicks	Over 204.5	1.91
	Under 204.5	1.91

Regardless of the outright winner of this game between the Celtic and the Knicks, what you are going to be interested in throughout the game is the number of combined points the two teams can put together.

Final Score

Celtics 98 - 103 Knicks - Total points scored, 201

• Bets on Under 204.5 would be winners
• Bets on Over 204.5 would lose

MoneyLine

For UK punters who prefer to make a prediction on the outright winner of an event after all time has played including overtime, the money line is the equivalent of a full-time result in football betting. 

As mentioned there can be some very one-sided games, offering very short odds for the favoured teams. 

The best way to use the moneyline is to combine them in an Basketball Accumulator to boost the overall odds of your return if you can correctly predict several games accurately. 

On OLBG.com you can customise the best basketball tips via the My ACCA feature. 

Beware though, you can have a 5 team accumulator, 4 winners, but if there is one losing prediction in the bet, then the entire bet will be counted as a loser and you will lose the bet and your stake.

In America, Accumulator bets are known as Parlays.

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Types of Bet: Proposition Bets

A proposition bet is a bet that has no bearing on the outcome of the match directly, in so much as the final result or winner. 

Although some elements of the proposition bet may have a bearing on the final result.

Thomas S, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

If that sounds complicated, let's make s much easier by explaining it is the same as betting a correct score or first goalscorer in football in the UK. it is betting on just one element of the game.

Proposition bets can be broken down into three categories too. You can bet on the game as a whole, individual teams, or even down to specific players performances like points scored. 

• Game Props
• Team Props
• Player Props

Game Props

Game proposition bets will be based on events that can happen within the game. These will include things like which side will score the first points.

Team Props

Team proposition bets will be based around a single teams performance in the match. You will have options on these for both sides

Player Props

These are very specific propositions bets concerning the performance of a single player in a match for example you may be predicting how many points the named players will score or maybe even how many dunks!

Team To Score First Basket

This is a pretty self-explanatory bet on the first of the two teams to score a basket. 

This bet isn’t a great one for those looking for some entertainment in a game as it will be over very early, whether a winner or a loser, but it can be a good bet if particular teams are very strong or slow starters.

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Futures and Outrights Betting

Ante Post betting is gambling on future events often weeks or months in advance, for example you could predict the EPL winners at the start of the season in  August. 

The same thing can be done on American sports but the term used is Futures betting. 

There are whole host of futures betting markets on the NBA involving conferences and divisions, and the overall championship.  

There is a futures betting opportunity on the following. 

1. Divisional Winners
2. Eastern Conference Winners
3. Western Conference Winners
4. NBA Championship Winners
5. NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP)

Basketball Betting Advice

When people think of basketball they will most commonly think about the NBA but there are also professional basketball leagues in Europe which attract plenty of bets from native punters.

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In the NBA there are 30 teams from USA and Canada and they are divided into East and West conferences. 

Each conference is divided into three divisions of five teams and each team will be kept busy with 82 games not including any matches in the playoffs. 

The playoffs are the four best teams from each conference.

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FAQ

Responsible Gambling

All forms of gambling should be conducted responsibly. On OLBG we have a range of helpful articles on this subject. 

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Responsible Gambling Features, Function and Help

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Editorial Information

The Ultimate Guide on How To Bet on Basketball was collated and updated by NIgel Skinner with assistance from a range of  OLBG Betting Experts.