An Expert Guide to NBA Basketball Betting Online

NBA point spreads in basketball betting involve placing a bet on which team you think will win the game and the points margin by which they’ll win. Simply put, the ‘point spread’ is the number of points by which the favorite team is expected to win.

These point spreads are set by the sportsbook, and will likely vary slightly from site-to-site. Bookmakers use the point spread as a way of leveling out the chances of either team winning the game by providing an advantage or disadvantage based on the margin of victory or defeat for a given team. As such, you’ll see much more even odds in point spread betting than you will in moneyline betting.

For a bet on the favorite to pay out as a winner, that team must win the game, and do so by more than the amount by which they were favored. This is known as “covering the spread”.

An NBA moneyline bet is a type of bet that provides betting odds focused on who will win the game, regardless of how many points. The more uneven the game, the larger the discrepancy in odds will be.

With NBA moneyline betting, a minus sign (-) in front of the odds indicates the favorite and the number listed shows how much money you must wager to win $100 – In Brazil, odds are written with decimals, so this will be reflected as a lower decimal number.

A positive sign (+) in front of the odds indicates the underdog and the number shows how much money you will win for a $100 wager. Like we mention before, Brazil uses odds written as decimals, so this will be reflected as the higher decimal number.

The more uneven the contest, the bigger the numbers you’ll see. It is rare, but sometimes if the matchup is too extreme or one-sided, a book will take the Moneyline option off the board.

The total in an NBA game is a wager on the final combined score of both teams. Like a point spread, this amount is determined by the bookmaker based on matchup, past performance, team averages, etc.

As a bettor, you must choose whether you think the score will be more (“over) than the set total, or less (the “under”).

Much like point spreads, when setting a total, bookmakers will often use fractional points (e.g. 199.5) to avoid a tie (or “push”) scenario, where the combined score is exactly the set total and the sportsbook must pay out all bets as ties.

In recent years, online sportsbooks have begun offering a wide selection of live sports betting, wherein you can bet on NBA games once they have begun.

Generally, multiple live bet types are available with basketball betting, with sportsbooks offering spreads, totals, & moneyline wagers with odds that change along with the game.

The Lakers are playing the Knicks, and the Warriors are playing the Bulls. You place a parlay bet on the Lakers moneyline and the Warriors moneyline.

In this instance, your wager would pay out only if both the Lakers and the Warriors win their games. If they do, your payout would be your wager size, multiplied by the Lakers odds, multiplied by the Warriors odds.

If any event in your parlay loses, your entire wager loges in NBA betting.

Thanks to futures, NBA gurus can put their money where their mouths are with respect to their long-term predictions. NBA futures bets allow bettors to wager on topics like who will win the Finals, who the MVP will be, and many more.

These types of wagers are generally open in the pre-season and throughout the year. As you’d expect, the payout odds correspond with the likelihood of an event occurring.

Typically, in NBA online betting, a prop bet involves betting on the performance of an individual team (which team will score first?) or player (will LeBron have over or under 25.5 points?) in a game or season.

However, prop bets are exceedingly popular because they run the gamut from ‘normal’ bets to the truly bizarre in basketball betting.

Just about anything that can happen in or around an NBA game can be turned into a prop bet. Props are particularly popular during the Finals, when bettors can wager on things like the length of the pre-game national anthem, or the color of the Gatorade that will be poured on the winning coach.

Note that prop availability varies widely by sport and by sportsbook, so we’d recommend doing your homework using our sportsbook reviews if you want to place these types of bets.