Basketball
Whether it be collegiate basketball or the National Basketball Association basketball betting is fun to bet on, and can earn you some quick cash on a regular basis.
Basketball Wager Types
Basketball betting offers money line and point spread wagers. A money line bet would be strictly based on who will win the game. For example, the New Jersey Nets may have a money line bet at (+500) and their opponent, the Los Angeles Lakers may be listed at (-600). What this is telling us, is, if you wager on the New Jersey Nets to win the game, and they do, you will win +500 your initial bet. So if you bet $100, you would win $500. The Lakers with the (-) would be a large favorite. What this is telling us, is, if the Lakers win, since they are supposed to, you would only win -600 of your initial bet. You would not make a very large profit betting favorites with the money line.
A point spread bet would be a bet between both teams, and added points to the team that is expected to win. For example a point-spread bet would look like this: New Jersey Nets (+11.5), Los Angeles Lakers (-11.5). What this is telling is us, the New Jersey Nets are given 11.5 points to compete with the Lakers, for the bets purpose. If you bet the Nets and the +11.5, and they lost by 11; you win the bet. If they win the game outright; you also win the bet. If they lose by 12, or more, you lose the bet. And for the Lakers, if you bet them to win the bet, they must win by 12 points or more, for you to win the bet. Most, if not all point spread bets are on a “juice” pay-out. The juice is the money the sports book receives for you making the bet. The juice is typically listed at -110, which means $110 would be needed to win $100. All of these examples are also good for collegiate basketball.
Another very popular wager within basketball is the over/under. For this, along with the odds for the game, the book will list a total amount of points expected to score in the game. For example the Nets/Lakers may have an over/under of 194. When betting on an over/under, the bettor is selecting whether the total amount of points (Nets + Lakers) will be more than, or less than the number. Any overtime play counts for the over under. These are also listed with juice; typically at -110.
Basketball betting is also good for quarter and half bets. For example, the Nets/Lakers will list the total game, the money line, and the over/under, and at most books, they will have a 1st quarter and 1st half line. For example the first quarter line for the Nets/Lakers may look something like this: (Lakers -3.5). This would mean the Lakers would have to win the first quarter by more than 4. A half bet works the same way; Nets (+8.5) would mean the Nets would have to be losing by 8 or less for them to win the bet.
In Basketball betting, bettors can also select parlay’s (multiple games on one card), if-bets, and future bets. Many sports books will allow for live betting, which gives bettors the opportunity to wager on an event that will happen momentarily.
Basketball Betting Advice
Just like all sports betting, betting on basketball requires doing your homework. Many that are looking for quick money will be on the first quarter and half. As you all know, games are four quarters long (NBA) and you never know how a team will come out and play early in the game; so stay away from quarter and bets. When betting on basketball, be sure to check both teams’ numbers. If a team is a high scoring team, and the other is a terrible defensive team, look at the over/unders and see if it’s a good listing or not. Be sure to check the injury report, and current trends, such as home/away record before placing any wager on basketball.