How to Bet on the NBA, WNBA, and NCAAB - Basketball Betting Explained
Throughout the year, there’s always some type of basketball going on: the WNBA tips off in May, the NBA in October, and college basketball in November.
The NBA has 82 games; college basketball has March Madness, and the WNBA has more viewership than ever with the arrival of players like Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever.
Given the prominence of these leagues and college sports, the best online sportsbooks for basketball tend to offer promotions and bonuses tailored to them, including profit boosts, bet-and-get offers, parlay insurances, no-sweat bets, and more.
Below, we’ll dive more into basketball betting, including how to bet on basketball, understanding the betting odds, popular betting markets, live betting, how to bet on games, basketball betting tips, and much more.
Understanding Basketball Betting Odds
Basketball odds can change for numerous reasons, including the amount of money wagered on one side or the other. These odds can also change due to injury, coaching changes, players sitting out for rest, and more.
Let’s examine the different types of odds formats, which include decimal, fractional, and American.
American Odds
With American odds, you’ll see a “-” and “+” sign on most markets.
The “minus” odds indicate the favorite in most circumstances, while the “plus” odds signify the underdog. If both teams have “minus” odds, the team with the higher number is considered the favorite.
For example, if the Lakers were playing the Boston Celtics and the Celtics were -130 compared to the Lakers at -120, the Celtics have a higher implied probability of winning.
With American odds, you can quickly tell how much you’ll win or need to bet when you look through the lens of $100.
Fractional Odds
Fractional odds are typically found in the United Kingdom.
These also help you estimate how much you need to wager to win a certain amount. Most often, it’s viewed through the lens of $1, but it all depends on the numerator and the denominator.
Let’s look at some examples:
- The Denver Nuggets are 5/1 to win the NBA Finals. With these odds, you’ll take the denominator, and that’s how much you need to wager to win the number in the numerator. So, for every $1 bet, you’d win $5. Suppose you bet $1 on the Nuggets to win at 5/1 odds. In that case, you’d receive $6, including the original wager and the number in the numerator.
- Now, let’s take the Lakers example above at -120 American odds. In fractional odds, it’s 5/6 odds. With this, you’d win $5 on a $6 wager.
Decimal
Decimal odds are a format typically displayed at European, Canadian, and other sportsbooks outside of the United States. However, most sites still allow you to view odds this way if you choose.
These odds allow you to quickly determine how much you’ll win with a wager.
For example, say you wanted to bet on the Los Angeles Lakers at 1.50 odds, and you wanted to bet $100.
You’d take 100 and multiply it by 1.50, and you’d get $150. This includes the $100 wager, so you’d net $50 in profit.
So, for American bettors, the decimal odds are quite different in how they’re displayed, but calculating your winners and profits is done quite quickly.
Popular Basketball Betting Markets
Moneyline
The moneyline is the simplest betting market. You simply pick the winner of the game without any caveats.
Point Spread
The point spread indicates the gap in power between two teams.
With American odds, if a team is -5.5 on the point spread, it must win the game and do so by six or more to cover. As for a team that's +5.5, it can cover the spread by winning outright or losing by five or less.
Totals
With a totals bet, you’ll wager on the combined number of points scored in the game. The sportsbook will provide a line, and you’ll bet over or under on it.
So, if the Lakers and Celtics play and the total is 222.5 and the Lakers score 120 and the Celtics score 124, you add them together, it’s 224 points, and if you bet “over,” your bet would win.
Prop Bets
Prop bets in basketball come in three ways: player, game, and team props. The most popular are player props. These allow you to bet on individual player performance and ignore the game's outcome.
For example, you could bet on LeBron James’ point total. Like over/under bets, you’ll get a line and bet over or under on it. Let’s say his line is 28.5, and you bet under. If he scores 29 or more, you lose; if he scores 28 or less, you win.
Futures
With futures betting markets, you’ll be wagering on events that’ll resolve in, well, the future. Examples of futures bets include betting on the NBA Finals winner in October or the MVP winner. These markets remain up throughout the season, but the odds can swing wildly.
Live Betting Markets
Live betting, also known as in-play betting, is a totally separate market that sportsbooks often dedicate a unique page on their platforms.
With live betting, most of the markets mentioned above are available. With basketball, the odds can shift extremely fast as you’ll be betting on the game in real time.
Some sites offer live trackers so you can keep up with the game, and others have live streaming on their platforms. Sites also provide statistics during and before the game to help you make educated and informed decisions.
I love using live betting to hedge my pre-game betting line. With this, you can limit your losses.
Basketball Leagues to Bet On
As mentioned above, there are numerous basketball leagues you can wager on, which we'll discuss below.
The abovementioned betting markets are also available in all leagues, including the NBA, WNBA, college basketball, and the EuroLeague.
NBA
The NBA is the top professional basketball league in the world. The NBA, along with the NFL, NHL, and MLB, is among the most popular sports to bet on in the United States.
It features 30 teams and an 82-game regular season. After the regular season, there are the playoffs, which feature eight teams from each conference competing in three rounds—the First Round, Conference Semi-Finals, and Conference Finals—before the last two standing teams compete in the NBA Finals.
These series are all best-of-seven, so if a team managed to go seven games in all four series, there would be 110 total games.
Throughout the season, there are numerous events to wager on at NBA betting sites, including the NBA Cup, international contests, and the All-Star Game.
NCAA
College basketball teams can play up to 40 games, depending on whether they make or miss the NCAA Tournament, also known as March Madness. March Madness features more than 60 teams from multiple regions vying for a national championship.
The season spans across 21-22 weeks. You can wager on regular-season contests and in-season tournaments.
WNBA
The WNBA is the leading professional women's basketball league. The regular season lasts 40 games. Twelve teams make up the league, and the top eight make the playoffs.
The first round is a best-of-three series, while the semi-finals and WNBA Finals are best-of-five.
You can also wager on the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup Tournament and the All-Star Game.
EuroLeague
The EuroLeague is the most popular professional basketball league in Europe. It is regarded as the next-best league in skill after the NBA.
In this league, there are 18 teams, and they play 34 rounds, each team playing the others home and away.
The top eight teams from the league make the playoffs and participate in a best-of-five series. Finally, there’s the EuroLeague Championship.
How to Bet on Basketball Games
- Choose a Sportsbook: Check which sites are available where you live, and choose the best ones for your betting style. You can always sign up at all sites available to you and test them out to see which you enjoy playing the most.
- Register & Deposit: Create an account with ID verification info, including your name, date of birth, address, and the last four digits of your Social Security number. After you’ve created your account, you’ll need to add funds.
- Place a Bet: Scan the available betting markets across whatever basketball leagues you want to wager on. When you find something you like, click on it, and it’ll be added to your betslip.
- Analyze Outcomes: Analyze recent games to see what went wrong, how things could improve, and notice trends. This could include reviewing the injury report, analyzing past games between the two teams, and examining stats.
- Manage your Bankroll: Managing your bankroll is one of the most important things you can do. You’ll sustain your bankroll by limiting the amount you bet on each wager. This helps diversify your bets and keep your bankroll rolling longer.
I look at the welcome bonus, other sportsbook promos, the quality of the sports betting apps, and the customer support options.
I tend to deposit an amount I am comfortable losing and wager between 1% and 10% of my budget.
So, if I have $100, I don’t spend the full $100. Instead, I’ll wager $10 on a game here and $10 on a game there.
Basketball Betting Tips, Strategies, and Best Practices
Below are some betting strategies that you can deploy when you wager on any basketball league.
Understanding Pace and Tempo
The pace and tempo of a team can play a massive role in how you bet on them.
Teams that tend to play fast usually score a lot but also allow more points.
With two teams that like to play fast, totals tend to be quite high, as both offenses will have chances, and defenses don’t typically keep up.
Meanwhile, teams that play at fast tempos and keep possession often do not cover the spread as much.
Analyzing Team and Player Performance
Many factors can come into play when picking games, and sometimes it can be as simple as assessing a team's points allowed per game or its rebounding.
For example, if a team allows a lot of offensive rebounds and there’s an opposing player with a high rebound average, you could look at his rebound player prop a lot differently.
There are so many factors to consider, and opponents play a huge role in them.
You could also look at the last 10 games to see how teams have performed recently and examine how certain players are defensively.
Again, there are so many scenarios to consider on a game-by-game basis.
Rest and Travel Considerations
Like analyzing player and team performance, rest and travel can impact teams differently depending on who they’re playing, whether there are injuries, and more.
It's worth noting how teams perform against the spread (ATS), but again, it depends on who plays.
These stats are definitely worth examining, but you need real in-season data to assess and identify trends.
Betting Against the Public
Betting against the public is a strategy often used as a contrarian play. Sometimes, teams receive many wagers for money and tickets. When that happens, some bettors may bet the other way to be contrarian, especially if the lines and odds don’t change much.
Sometimes, the line moves in the opposite direction from how the public is betting. For example, 80% of the public bet on the Celtics, but the line moves in favor of Boston’s opponent. This is called reverse line movement, and it can indicate where the “sharp bettors” are placing their money.
There are online resources to track this data, and some sites may even provide it themselves.
Understanding the difference between money and tickets is important, as it shows which team the public thinks will win.
Staying Updated
We recommend staying up to date on injury news by following beat writers for teams on social media or by searching injury reports to check the health status of individual players.
In a game like basketball, a player's absence can have a massive impact on a team’s performance, which in turn affects the betting lines.
Ensure you have as much information as possible before placing bets.
Shopping for Odds
We mentioned before that if you’re in a state with multiple online sportsbooks, you can create accounts at all of them. This allows you to odds shop to find the best bang for your buck.
Say you want to bet on the Lakers moneyline. Three sportsbooks have odds of -120, and a fourth has them at -105.
Placing your bet at the sportsbook with -105 odds provides more value if they win the game.
Avoiding Emotional Bets
We’re all human; sometimes, we can bet on our favorite team simply because it’s our favorite team, but this isn’t the best way to bet.
At the end of the day, betting is entertainment, but if you want to try to make the best of each bet, you need to remove the emotion and evaluate each game based on the stats and data you can pull together.
There are narratives you could add to your analysis, like a player’s comments during a press conference, but that’s factoring in the emotion of the team and players as opposed to your own.
Research
Researching the games is a given. We've mentioned multiple ways you could do so above, but here’s a bullet-point list of things to research as you begin your basketball betting journey:
- Injury reports
- Rest time
- Travel
- Trades
- Recent game data
- Points, rebounds, assists, and blocks per game
- Points, rebounds, assists, and blocks allowed per game
- Looking at public money/ticket wagers
Responsible Gambling on Basketball
While betting on basketball and analyzing ways to do it is exciting and fun, we cannot encourage responsible gambling enough.
If you or someone you know is experiencing problem gambling, we strongly encourage you to contact 1-800-GAMBLER or other in-state resources.
Basketball betting sites will provide resources to help with problem gambling, like setting limits on your account for deposits, spending, and time spent on the site. Other tools, such as self-exclusion, time out, and account closure, are also available.
