Betting on Basketball
It’s straightforward to bet on a basketball match. The most popular betting markets require you to select the winning team, and the odds system is very simple. As the draw is a much rare event in basketball and applies only to the regular time, the Moneyline system of bets makes it very simple to bet on a game: all you have to do is guess the winner and bet on good valuable odds to ensure long terms profits.
How Basketball Odds Work
Two markets stand out when it comes to basketball betting, and they are both related to the match result: the Moneyline and the handicap, which is called ‘spread’.
The first system is much easy, the Moneyline is a bet on the winning team, and overtime counts too.
There are individual bets on a potential draw. It means the match will reach a result in overtime, but this is not one of the main markets.
Spread bets are particularly interesting for matches between teams of difference in terms of quality, just like in the Ice Hockey or Association Football betting markets.
If you bet on a money line for a specific team to win, let’s say of 2.0 it works just like decimal odds in other sports: you multiply your potential bet by 2 to calculate how much you can win by placing that bet. Handicap bets work the same way, but the outcome is based on the difference of points as of the end of the score and not who won the game, i.e. a losing team in real life can be a ‘spread winner’ just like in Asian Handicap markets.
Betting on the Points
The bets on points work like a handicap on the match, as you bet on how many points the teams can produce during the game, they work just like goal bets in Ice Hockey and Football, all you have to do is bet whether the final score will be higher or lower than a specific number of points.
Different Basketball Markets
The big matches of NBA, for example, have several secondary markets such as several different spread options with odds of all sizes, and potential bets on the points much higher or lower than the main markets. The main markets for spreads and points usually try to balance the bet between two possible outcomes with odds circa 2; this helps the market to keep absolute liquidity. Still, big games are different, as many other options are available like we explained.
If you try to bet on lower leagues you will usually be able to bet on the Moneyline, one spread option and an over/under line for points.
Summary
You can bet on almost any professional league these days, but the most popular market for bets is by far the NBA. However, big European leagues like the Spanish one is another popular market for Basketball bets.
