One of the easiest sports to bet on is most probably basketball and those of you that know how to bet on football, then you already know how to bet on basketball. There is the point spread, moneyline bet, total, over/under and all kinds of bets.
Here we will cover the most common of these bets. One of them is the point spread. It’s the most popular handicap that sportsbooks offer in order to make both teams equal such as those sportsbooks listed here (although these are listed as Canadian online casinos, many of them have sports betting departments).
With the point spread one team is called the favorite while the other is the underdog, the team that the sportsbooks expect to lose. For betting purposes, the team expected to win gives points to the team expected to lose. This sounds complicated, but it actually isn’t and you will see why further below.
Let’s explain it through an example. If the Warriors are playing the 76ers, most bettors would bet on the Warriors to win the game. With that in mind, sportsbooks will give the Warriors a point spread of 10, which means they have to win by 11 points in order for the bets made on the Warriors to be successful. Or, for bettors to win their bets made on the 76ers, the 76ers have to lose by 9 points or less. The bets will be returned if the game ends with a 10 point difference. Pretty much simple.
Another popular bet is the totals bet. It’s also known as under/over. Here you bet that the total points scored combined from both teams will be over or under a specific number that the sportsbooks give. It’s a fairly easy-to-understand bet. If the number given is 180, then you can bet that the final total points score will be anything over 180 (181 or more) or anything under that (179 or less).
The moneyline bet is the third most used bet. It’s a simple bet where you have to predict the team that will win, but without the point spread. This bet is older than the point spread bet, which was introduced because too many bettors were making just moneyline bets. Ever since the point spread was introduced, bettors have used it as their default betting preference.
Parlays and teasers are also fairly popular mainly among more experienced bettors. These are also called exotic bets, because you have to correctly predict multiple winners on the same bet slip. Parleys are used for moneyline or point spread bets but for more than one game, while teasers are used for point spread where bettors can adjust the spread in their favor.
In order for a bettor to win a parley or teaser bet all predictions made on the bet slip have to be successful. This is the catch with these bets. If even one game doesn’t come out the way you’ve predicted it, your entire bet slip is lost.
Other bets available for basketball betting are futures and outrights, proposition bets and specials, if bets and reverse bets, permutation bets etc. But, you don’t need them for now, not until you master the aforementioned common bets. In essence betting on basketball is easy, and many bettors find betting on totals or the point spread much easier than making moneyline bets.
