Tips on basketball betting
08-02-2022
Betting on basketball can be really fun and profitable if you are a fan with a basic knowledge of both the sport and the intricacies of online betting. However, there are a few key points that you should know before you begin. Let’s go through them one by one:
• Choose the appropriate bookmaker
While you can find offers on all reputable bookmakers, there are some that specialize in the sport. It may take some time to search through the lot to find the one that will suite your purposes.
Alternatively, you can choose to open an account at a betting platform. The advantages lie in handling all your activities through a single process, while you are able to view all the available offers side by side so that you can choose the one you want.
• Handicapping basketball bets
When bookmakers set the odds, they take many factors under consideration. This is something that you should do as well. When you handicap your bets, you need to look at variables like which team is playing at home, past performances, coaching, possible injuries and players out due to punishments.
There is one catch here. There are 2 kinds of handicaps. The European and the Asian. Each one has its advantages and disadvantages. You may want to sort through the offers from all the top brand names in betting to get a handle of which one offers the most.
• Reading the odds
In basketball, the American odds are the most common since the NBA is the most popular basketball league. There’s a number of bookmakers that will not let you change the type, so it is important to learn how to read them.
The main concept is that the numbers you see are centered around winning or wagering $100 on a given bet, even though you don’t need to actually wager $100. It scales up and down depending on your stake.
o If you are betting a favorite:
The odds for favorites will have a minus (-) sign in front. They indicate the money you need to risk to win $100. So if, for example, you’re betting on the Yankees at -130, you need to risk $130 to win $100 if New York win the game. Your payout in this case will be a total of $230.
o If you are betting an underdog:
The odds for underdogs will have a plus (+) sign in front, and indicate the money you’ll win for every $100 risked.
Bet types
While all of the standard markets are available, basketball involves several unique types. Being familiar with them will allow you to place more profitable bets.
• Point spreads
More or less it’s the same as the usual handicap. The underdogs are given a point advantage while the favorites are placed on a kind of an uphill battle. However, the difference here is the way that the spreads are preset and the type is applicable even when the two sides are evenly matched.
• Combined score betting
In other sports you may see it as an over/under. However, in this case there is an additional option. To predict the exact number of the total points scored. In usual O/U markets you either have to go below or above the preset limit. Here you can match it exactly.
• Prop bets
Here you need to predict if there will be an event within a game that will either happen or not. This event may not necessarily have an impact to the outcome of the match.
The bottom line
Profitable betting is always a matter of doing an amount of homework. The more you look for questions to answer, the better are your chances for making a killing. However, you may want to save some of your personal time and use the services of
a good betting software. Much of the work that you need to do has already been done by others and you can simply read the benefits.
