Basketball Betting Explained

As a fan, you don’t care if your team wins by a point or 100. A win is a win, though that 100-point win would be a little easier on the nerves.

• Oct 14, 2016 Money line basketball betting Money line markets are the most common and simplest market for a bettor to understand the cost of a bet. This form of basketball betting is simply placing money on a certain team to win the game. For example, look at these money line odds for Boston Celtics vs.
• Dec 29, 2020 College Basketball Betting Explained. Posted on December 29, 2020 December 29, 2020 by kylecovers.
• NBA Basketball Betting Blog. Along with staying on top of the news, we also tackle tons of other topics in our basketball betting blog. Here, you’ll find all kinds of additional informative content beyond just current events. You could easily spend hours digging through are all the valuable nuggets we accumulated over nearly two years.

In sports betting, how much a team wins by is usually all that matters.

Betting On Basketball Totals Betting on the total points scored in a game is a very popular form of betting on basketball. Depending on the league or tournament, the number of points scored will vary.

The most popular way to bet for the two most popular sports, basketball and football, is with the point spread, also known as the “side.” Most baseball, hockey and soccer bets are on the moneyline, which is betting on a team to win straight up with adjusted odds. Football and basketball have moneyline bets available too, but most people will take the point spread.

The concept can be a bit confusing if you’ve never dabbled in sports betting before.

Why bet with the point spread?

The point spread was created to attract more action on a game. When the San Francisco 49ers are expected to blow out the Arizona Cardinals, it’s not enticing to lay $300 to win $100 on a moneyline. But when the 49ers are 11-point favorites and each side is -110 odds? That’s much easier.

In that example, the 49ers are spotting the Cardinals 11 points before the game starts, at least for bettors. The 49ers have to win by 12 or more points to cover the spread. If the Cardinals win or lose by 10 or less, that side wins the bet. If the game lands on 11, like a 21-10 49ers win, it’s a push and all bets are refunded. If you see a -11 that means that team is favored, and +11 means you’re taking the underdog.

Nothing sharpens your math skills better than trying to figure out how big your lead as a bettor is if you have a 22.5-point basketball underdog that is losing 90-72.

The problem with the point spread can be when a team — which really doesn’t care that you bet the favorite at -11 — has a 14-point lead but gives up a meaningless score at the end to win by only seven points. They’re still happy with the win. You, as a bettor, are not.

Point spreads lead to bad beats

The most infamous example of a bad beat with the point spread probably came in the 2004 Final Four at the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

Duke was a 2.5-point underdog against UConn. The Huskies rallied late and took a 79-75 lead on a free throw with 3.2 seconds left. The game itself was over; Duke couldn’t score twice in a few seconds. But Duke guard Chris Duhon pulled up for a running 3-pointer just over the half-court line and banked it in at the buzzer. Duke lost 79-78, but bettors who had Duke and 2.5 points won. March Madness is a huge event for bettors, and reports at the time estimated that Duhon’s “meaningless” shot resulted in a $30 or $40 million swing in Nevada. UConn players celebrated at the final buzzer. UConn bettors doubled over in pain. That’s the difference between betting the moneyline and the point spread.

Baseball and hockey have point spreads too, the “run line” in baseball and “puck line” in hockey. It’s generally 1.5 with odds adjusting accordingly. Taking a big baseball favorite at -1.5 runs can make the odds more palatable. Of course, betting the New York Yankees at -1.5 to bring down the odds from -190 to -110 isn’t too fun when they win 4-3 and you don’t cash a bet.

Betting on the point spread is the most common way to wager on sports. And the first time you take a favorite that wins the game but doesn’t cover the spread, you’ll understand every bettor’s heartbreak.

A Brief History

Basketball Betting Odds

Today, basketball as we know it; is an interesting game that provides betting enthusiasts with a fun way to make some decent profit. It is an easy sport for even the most casual sports fans to grasp the rules and regulations. Handicap betting can be a valuable option when in a basketball match, one of the teams is heavily favored over their opponent. As you may already know, handicap betting also goes by a variety of names, including Asian handicap, spread betting, line betting, and points betting. Bookmakers offer the handicap betting to counter the perceived bias in ability and level the playing field.

There are two main ways through which a handicap can work: either the favorite has points taken off their tally or the underdog is given extra hypothetical points at game start. This tends to even out the odds while making betting on uneven matches more competitive. With handicap betting, the player also gets a chance for higher odds or to turn a risky bet into a safer one. And as you may already know, the best way to maximize your sports betting profits is to analyze matches beforehand and use reliable betting tips. Jimmy, from Boyds Bets, says that for basketball picks to work best, you have to be sure you’re getting them from a reliable provider. And to ensure that they’re not only in it for the money, the tips provider should also provide free ones that in turn can make you profit.

As you search for the best betting tips, however, here is a brief overview of what handicap basketball betting is all about.

Digging Deeper

Real-world example

To explain handicap betting in action, let’s take an example of a real-world bet. Let’s say the match is between GS Warriors versus LA Lakers. The handicap bet could be offered as a ‘Handicap- including Overtime’ bet, meaning you are predicting that the Warriors will win by a margin of at least 6 points (-5.5) or that the Lakers will not lose by more than 5 points (+5.5). The handicap basketball betting number often displayed as either – or + a figure, such as the ones in the example, is factored into the final match results to determine the winner of the bet. You win the bet if you placed your handicap bet on the Warriors and they win, say by 7 points. Likewise, if the Lakers lose by not more than five points, you’ll still be a winner. At times, the handicap outcome is entirely different from the true result of the game.

Understanding the odds

An example of how the outcome could be different from the true result of the game: Let us take a game between the Rockets and Indiana, with the following odds – Rockets: (+6.5) 2.0, Indiana: (-6.5)1.8. To interpret the odds, it simply means that the odds of the Rockets to win the game while starting with 6.5 extra points is 2.0 while for Indiana to win with 6.5 fewer points is 1.8. Now, if Indiana won the match (90-86), any wager on their handicap would lose. This is because, for the purpose of this bet, Indiana started with 6.5 fewer points, thus the bookmakers will have to deduct 6.5 points from the final results, making it (83.5-86) to the Rockets’ favor. If Indiana had won (90-80), the adjusted outcome, according to the handicap would be (93.5-80), which means that they would still have won the wager and any placed bet on them would be a winner. Not only can you bet on the full-time result, but you can also apply the handicap bet to the end of the first quarter, halftime, and also the third quarter of the match. This flexibility allows you to have plenty of options to choose from while also increasing your chances of winning. If you feel that the team you are backing starts bright, but then tends to fade as the game nears the end, you can bet on the first quarter or opt for the halftime bet.

Basketball betting

In betting, some rules have to be followed for your bet to be valid and celebrate your well-earned payday. Some common rules on most betting platforms include:

• For bets to stand, at least 35 minutes of the gameplay must have elapsed.
• Unless otherwise stated, betting on the game may include overtime scores.
• Overtime doesn’t count in bets placed in the fourth quarter or towards the half-time or full-time result.
• Unless stated before a competition, matches must take place on the stipulated date, at the planned location for the bet to be valid.
• Matches must be played on the stipulated dates for wagers to be valid. For any rescheduled matches played on the same day at a different time, the wagers will be valid; however, if a match is rescheduled for a different date, all wagers will be null and void.

Basketball betting is a popular market in sports betting, which is also fun and straight forward. And among the many betting options it provides, handicap basketball betting is a great way to manage risks in your betting portfolio. Due to the rise in the popularity of basketball, there are many competitions around the world. From the continent-wide Euro League to the Asia League, which is steadily growing, and the NBA, which is the mother of them all your market options are endless when it comes to handicapping basketball betting.

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Historical Evidence

For more information, please see…

Editors of Sports Illustrated. Sports Illustrated: The Basketball Book. Sports Illustrated, 2007.

Basketball Betting Terms Explained

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