Basketball Betting Sites
Basketball betting attracts more money than practically every other professional sport – the notable exception is football. Football betting sites are more popular, but basketball betting is notably more popular than the baseball betting sites. One of the reasons it remains a favorite with avid bettors is that it is simple. Whether you’re betting on the NBA Finals, March Madness, or the WNBA, you’ll find the wagers are easy to understand. Because of the sport’s enormous popularity and the volume of bets placed during each event, there are now dozens of large basketball betting sites. The challenge is picking the best basketball betting sites online, and that is what this page will provide you.
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Best Sportsbooks To Bet NBA Online
Ideally, you will want to maintain accounts at a few basketball betting sites. That way, you can compare the lines side by side, and place your wagers where you can take advantage of the best odds. Here are our three top recommendations:
Bovada Sports – Bodog has operated a popular sportsbook for years alongside their casino, poker room, and racebook. Not only do they maintain fair lines and provide professional, responsive customer support, but they also offer an instant, unlimited 10% sign-up bonus. They currently have a 1X rollover requirement for the combined deposit and bonus. But take the time to review the terms and conditions. To lock in your bonus, use bodog sportsbook referral code “130347” when you register your account. They are one of the best websites for ncaa basketball betting online!
On this page, we’ll highlight a few of the best basketball betting sites we’ve found to help you enjoy a rewarding experience. We’ve spent a lot of time looking for fair lines, reliable deposit options, generous sign-up bonuses, and more. You’ll benefit from our testing.
If you’re just getting started, the following will provide a helpful push in the right direction.
Overview Of Basketball Betting Online
Placing wagers on NBA or NCAA basketball is very similar to betting on football. The types of bets you can make are identical.
Here are the most popular basketball wagers:
- point spreads
- totals
- money line bets
- parlays and teasers
Let’s quickly define each of them.
Point Spreads – In every basketball game, one team is considered the favorite and the other is considered the underdog. A point spread reflects the number of points by which the favorite is predicted to win. For betting purposes, the spread is a handicap that is maintained by the basketball betting sites. If you’re wagering against a 7-point spread, that means you’re betting the favorite will win by more than 7 points.
Totals – Totals are wagered as “overs” or “unders.” They represent a bet on the aggregate score of both teams for a given game. For example, suppose the Pacers and Bucks were playing, and the basketball betting sites held their aggregate score at 160. In this case, placing overs or unders would mean that you’re betting the total score will be over 160, or under.
Money Line Bets – A lot of bettors like to wager on the money line. At its simplest, this means placing a bet without a spread. However, because there may be an enormous difference between the chances of each team winning, money line bets compensate bettors with odds. For example, suppose the Suns and Spurs were playing. The odds might look like this…
Spurs +230
Suns -290
The favorite is the team with the minus sign – in this case, the Suns.
A money line bet on the Sun means you would need to put up $29 in order to win $10. By contrast, a money line wager on the Spurs means you would only need to risk $10 to win $23.
Parlays And Teasers – These wagers are less popular than the bets described thus far. They are sometimes referred to as “exotics.” Of the exotics, parlays bets are the most popular, especially betting on basketball. They are bets on a group of two or more teams where every team in the group wins. There are many types of parlays, including point spreads and money lines. Teasers are the same as parlays with one difference: you can move the point spread.
Under the umbrella of these four types of bball bets, you’ll be able to place several different wagers at your favorite basketball betting sportsbooks. For example, you can bet on half lines, quarter lines, game totals, team totals, and the scoring leaders for each quarter. At a few basketball sportsbooks, you can even place futures for a given regional or national championship. This is much different than the bets you can make on a sport like tennis. Tennis betting sites offer year round betting options and different types of gambling choices compared to NBA, while the other two big sports, football and baseball only offer seasonal betting.
Whether you’re placing money line bets, parlays, or wagering against the spread, there are dozens of basketball betting sites from which to choose. Our recommendation? Start with the three listed above to get started with fair lines and generous sign-up bonuses. Use our “short list” of basketball sportsbooks, we’ll cover some of the basics of betting on basketball games.
