A Beginners Guide for Online Basketball Betting

If you’re searching for information about basketball betting, then you’ve come to the right place. For those of you that want to wager on March Madness, the NBA, or European leagues, we’ve got you covered. We’ve developed this guide to basketball betting with the sole goal of helping folks become knowledgeable basketball bettors.

In our detailed guide on basketball betting, we’re going to provide you with all of the pertinent information that you need to either begin your basketball betting adventures or elevate your current ones to a whole new level. In the sections below, we’ll cover helpful items such as popular basketball wagers, where you can bet on basketball, how to get started, and much more. To get things started, we’ll take a look at some of the most popular basketball events from around the world.

Popular Basketball Events

Up first, we figured we’d kick things off by focusing on some of the most famous basketball events out there. You may be familiar with some or all of these. In either case, we wanted to provide a high-level overview here so that you can have a basic understanding of these events if you don’t already. After checking out this list, you might determine that you’d like to bet on some of these events the next time that they happen.

March Madness

One of the most famous basketball events is the annual March Madness Tournament. This event is put on by the NCAA in the United States. The tournament is made up of 68 college teams that compete to win it all. Because the majority of this tournament takes place in March, it’s been given the name March Madness.

Over the course of several weeks, teams are put up against one another in a single-loss format. As soon as a team loses a game, they are out of the tournament, while the winners move on. Ultimately, only a single team will be crowned as the winner of the competition and the champion of the NCAA league.

From a betting perspective, the March Madness Tournament provides sports bettors tons of options. Not only can you bet on the overall tournament winner, but you can also wager on individual game winners and specific game details.

NBA Finals

Another famous basketball event is the annual NBA Finals. In this competition, 16 of the best teams from the National Basketball Association compete until a winner rises to the top. Instead of being a single-game series like the March Madness Tournament described above, the NBA Finals use a best-of-seven-games format. In the seven-game series, the first team to win four games moves on to the next portion of the bracket, while the losing side is out of the competition. The overall NBA Final competition takes nearly two months to play out due to the large number of games played between all of the teams.

As with the March Madness Tournament, the NBA Finals also presents lots of opportunities for folks looking to place wagers on basketball. You can bet on individual game winners, bracket winners, overall championship winner, and detailed game options. Be sure to check out your chosen sportsbook to see what all they provide on NBA Finals betting action.

FIBA Basketball World Cup

The chances are that you’ve heard of the FIFA World Cup of Soccer. However, you might not be aware that there’s a similar tournament for basketball. The FIBA Basketball World Cup brings together 32 teams from around the world to compete in the quest of becoming the world champion. Similar to the soccer version, this tournament happens every four years.

Basketball Leagues from Around the Globe

To many folks, the NBA and NCAA are the only leagues that come to mind when basketball is mentioned. However, there are basketball leagues from all over the world. In this section, we’ll highlight some of the more popular leagues. While this list isn’t all-inclusive, it will give you a good idea of some other leagues you might consider placing wagers on.

NBA

In the United States, the professional basketball league is the National Basketball Association, otherwise known as the NBA. This league consists of 30 teams from around the country. The NBA was first formed in 1946 and is currently the third-highest professional sports league from a generated revenue standpoint. Only the NFL and MLB bring in more revenue.

NCAA

Also hailing from the United States is the NCAA league. This league is made up of teams from college campuses all over the country. Each year, the season culminates in one of the most famous basketball tournaments, March Madness. You can learn more about this tournament in the section above. 

EuroLeague

Made up of 16 teams from Europe, the EuroLeague is the most popular professional basketball league in Europe. This league was founded in 1958. It’s worth pointing out that Europe has many other professional leagues apart from the EuroLeague. Notable ones include Spain’s Liga ACB and the Turkish Basketball Super League (BSL).

Chinese Basketball Association

Whether you realize it or not, Asia also has a professional basketball league that goes by the name of the Chinese Basketball Association, or CBA. This league was formed in 1995 and consists of 20 different teams.

Where to Bet on Basketball

Folks often reach out to our team asking where they can bet on basketball. To help, we’ve included this section that’s focused on where you can bet on basketball. If you don’t currently have a sports betting home, you can use this section to see which of these places might be an excellent choice for your sports betting needs.

Online Sportsbooks

One of your options to do your basketball betting is through online sportsbooks. No matter where you live, the good news is that you’ve got access to a sports betting website that will allow you to wager on basketball as much as you’d like. We’re huge fans of online sportsbooks since they are the most convenient way to do sports betting at this time. Once you’ve got an account established, placing a wager is as simple as pulling out your phone, selecting the bet, and then placing it.

When it comes to sports betting websites, there are tons of them out there. This allows you the ability to shop around and find one that’s right for you. As you check out potential ones, be sure to consider the sports you want to bet on, bonuses, the reputation of the site, and banking methods. If you come across an online sportsbook that doesn’t check all of your boxes, keep looking, as you’re sure to find one that will.

Local Brick-and-Mortar Sportsbooks

For some of you, you might have the option to place your bets at a local brick-and-mortar sportsbook. If you’ve got one of these close enough to your home that you’d consider driving to, consider yourself lucky. Most folks living in the United States don’t have one that’s close to home.

At a traditional brick-and-mortar sportsbook, you’re able to walk in and place sports bets as you please. Often, this type of sportsbook can also be a great place to watch sports thanks to all of the giant television displays in the sportsbook. For those of you with one of these close to home, it’s worth dropping in to see what options they offer you so that you can determine if it’s the right place for you to do your basketball betting.

Common Basketball Bet Types

Up next, we’ll take a look at some of the most common types of basketball wagers that you can select from when you’re betting on the sport. If you’re new to betting on basketball, then be sure to stick towards the top of the list, as we’ve structured it so that the easier-to-win wagers are at the top. For the more advanced basketball bettors, check out some of the more intricate bets lower down the list.

Moneyline Bets (Game Winner)

The most popular way to bet on basketball is through the use of a moneyline wager. While the moneyline name might sound a bit weird, this is a straightforward bet to understand. With this type of wager, you’re simply deciding which of the two teams in the game you think will win the game. The nice thing about this bet type is that you only have two factors to choose from when deciding. If you correctly pick the team that ends up winning the game, then you’ll win the bet and collect your earnings.

Over/Under Bets

Another basketball betting option is the over/under bet. For any basketball game, sportsbooks will post a number of points that they think the two competing teams will score combined. It’s then up to you to choose if you believe that the teams will score more or fewer points than the figure posted by the sportsbook.

Here’s a sample: the sportsbook at Caesars Palace might set an over/under total of 217 points for an upcoming game between the Orlando Magic and the Chicago Bulls. That means that the sportsbook believes that the two teams will score a combined total of 217 points. If you think that the teams will score more than that amount, you will bet the over. As long as they score a combined 218 or more, then you’ll win your wager. On the flip side, if you think that the 217 points total is too aggressive, then you would bet the under. If the teams score 216 points or less, then you’ll win the bet.

Spread Bets

Spread bets are another way that you can bet on basketball games. For this type of wager, you’ll be betting against the sportsbook and their opinion of how much the favored team will win the game by. Each sportsbook will post the number of points that they expect the favored team to win by. Your job is to determine then if you think that the favored team will win by more than or less than that amount.

To help you visualize spread bets, let’s look at a sample. If we go back to the upcoming game between the Orlando Magic and the Chicago Bulls, the sportsbook at Caesars Palace has posted that the Chicago Bulls are favored to win the game by a total of 4.5 points. If you bet that Chicago will cover the spread, that means that they will need to win the game by 5 points or more for you to win the bet. On the other side, folks betting on Orlando to cover the spread either need Orlando to win the game or for them to lose by 4 points or less if they want to win the bet.

In-Play Bets (Live Betting)

An additional method to bet on basketball action is by using in-play betting. This type of betting is also known as live betting since you’re able to bet on basketball action as it happens. Unlike traditional betting where you place your bets before the tip-off, in-play action lets you bet during the game. This is an excellent bet method to test out if you’ve never tried live betting before. For many individuals, using live betting is an excellent way for them to enjoy watching their favorite basketball teams even more thanks to the added excitement of the in-play wagers.

There is a broad array of live betting options for basketball. Some of the more popular wagers include which team will score next, which player will score next, and which side will lead at the end of the quarter. If you’re interested in placing live bets on basketball, check out the options offered by the sportsbook of your choice. Keep in mind that online sportsbooks tend to have a broader assortment of live betting options than many brick-and-mortar sportsbooks.

Prop Bets

Prop bets are another fun way to bet on basketball games. If you’re looking for something a bit out of the ordinary, then prop bets might be a good fit for you. The beauty of prop bets is that they can be on almost anything. Because prop bets are on many random things, we don’t suggest that beginners use this type of wager until they’ve got a good grasp of basketball betting.

As with in-play betting, prop bets also have a significant number of potential options to choose from. Sample basketball prop bets include which player will score the X point, which team will be the first to X points, and whether the total points scored by both sides will be an even or odd number. If you’re interested in trying out some basketball prop bets, check with your sportsbook to see what options they bring to the table for you. 

Tournament Bets

We also wanted to include a note about some of the types of basketball bets that you can place on popular tournaments like the NCAA March Madness one. With basketball tournaments, the most common wager is the tournament winner bet. For this wager, you’ll select the team that you think will rise above all others in the tournament to win it all. You’ll need to choose the team that you think will accomplish this feat before the tournament begins.

Another common tournament bet is a bracket bet. If you’ve ever participated in some form of office pool for the NCAA tournament, then you’re already familiar with the way this works. Before the tournament begins, you’ll fill out the entire bracket and decide which teams you think will win for every matchup. As the competition plays out, you’ll earn points for your selections that were correct. In many cases, you’ll have the chance to win cash or prizes based upon how your bracket group is established.

How to Get Started Betting on Basketball

If you’ve never bet on basketball before, then you’re probably asking yourself how you can get things started. That’s precisely why we’ve included this section – so that you’ll have clear instruction on how you can quickly get the ball rolling. If you follow this step-by-step guide below, you’ll be betting on basketball in no time!

Step 1: Research

Our first suggested step for how you can get started betting on basketball is to do some research on it. If you’re already pretty knowledgeable about the sport, then this is a step that you could consider skipping. However, no matter how much you think you know, there’s always something else that you can learn to help increase your knowledge about the sport.

We suggest that you start out with research so that you go into your basketball betting adventure as an informed sports bettor. If you do this, you’ll have a better chance of making quality betting decisions based on your knowledge of the sport. While you can just bet without knowing much about basketball at all, your success rate should be much higher if you take the time to learn about how the sport functions. 

Step 2: Find a Sportsbook

After you’ve completed some research on basketball and betting on it, you’ll then need to sort out where you’d like to place your sports wagers. In the United States, you’ll typically have two different types of sportsbooks that you can utilize for your basketball wagers. One of them may be local, and the other one resides online. If you’d like to gain more knowledge on these two options, be sure to check out the section above relating to where you can bet on basketball.

Depending on where you live, you may have a local brick-and-mortar sportsbook that’s not too far from your home. If you do have one of these close by, consider yourself lucky, as many folks in the US don’t have this as an option. At this type of sportsbook, you’ll show up in person and place your basketball wagers with the sportsbook itself.

The other option for placing basketball bets is to use an online sportsbook. These sportsbooks are an excellent option for people that don’t have a physical brick-and-mortar sportsbook nearby or for anyone that doesn’t want to drive to a local sportsbook to make their wagers. With online sports betting sites, you can bet on your phone or computer whenever you’d like.

Step 3: Make a Bankroll Management Plan

All too often, we see folks skip this critical step. While it’s easy to want to jump into betting immediately, trust us when we say that it’s worth you taking the small amount of time to establish a bankroll management plan. By creating and using this plan, you’ll be less likely to run out of betting funds.

While you can wager without a bankroll management plan, we don’t advise it. This is especially true for folks that are new to betting on sports. Without a firm bankroll management plan, you’re likely to make common betting mistakes that will quickly deplete your cash.

Step 4: Determine What You Want to Bet On

Once you’ve done your research, found a sportsbook you’d like to wager at, and established a bankroll management plan, then you’re ready to begin picking some wagers. If you’re an experienced basketball bettor, then you most likely already have a good idea of where to start. For those of you that are new, be sure to check out the list of popular wagers above if you skimmed over it. We’d suggest that you focus on the bet types towards the start of that list, as those are the easiest and least complicated ones, which makes them a perfect fit for newbies.

You’ll need to determine what league and game that you’ll start with. Then, pick the types of wagers that you want to place and decide how much you’d like to bet on each of them. After that’s done, you’ve only got one last step left in the process.

Step 5: Place Your Wagers

The last and final step is for you to actually place your bets with the sportsbook of your choice. For those of you using your local sportsbook, you’ll head there and place your bets with their sportsbook team. Individuals betting online will just log into their betting account and place their bets using their smartphone or tablet. It’s that easy!

Basketball Betting Frequently Asked Questions

Before we wrap up this page, we didn’t want to leave you without adding in some frequently asked questions relating to basketball betting. Using the questions and answers below, you should be able to tie up any unknowns that you still have at this time. If you’d like to see the response to one of the questions, click on the question itself, and the answer will then appear for your review.

Conclusion

Thanks for checking out our page about basketball betting. We hope that the information contained on this page was able to help you learn as much as you were looking to absorb. If you’ve never been to our site before, be sure to check out some of our other resource pages to see what else we can assist you with. We’ve designed this website with the goal of helping folks to get the most out of their betting regardless of if it is on sports or casino games. We appreciate you stopping by, and we wish you good luck in your future basketball betting journey.