Legal NBA Betting. The NBA is one of the biggest and most-watched sports in the world and that extends directly to the popularity of legal NBA betting. Legal NBA betting happens across the world during the season as well as into the postseason, with fans growing in numbers every year. If you bet that Team 2 would win, you would win $315 if you bet $100. Another common NBA bet is betting using The Spread. In the above example, you can see that the spread is Team 1 -8.5. By betting on the spread, you wager on whether you think that Team 1 will win by more than 8.5 points (so 9 points or more). NBA betting systems. Do enough research and you’ll come across a few NBA betting systems that promise to be profitable. Just remember, anything can happen in the NBA. Here’s a look at a few of the most popular NBA betting systems: The High Totals System: This system involves finding nonconference games where the totals line is 220 points. NBA Point spread betting is recognizable by the use of the + or – symbols. When a team has a spread with a plus sign (+), it shows that the team must win the game outright or lose the game by fewer number of points than what the spread indicates.

1. How To Get In Nba
2. How To Bet In Nba Finals
3. How To Get In Nba Draft

How to Bet On Sports > How to Bet on the NBA

“You can practice shooting eight hours a day, but if your technique is wrong, then all you become is very good at shooting the wrong way. Get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you do will rise.” – Michael Jordan

Introduction

For over a decade Sports Insights has been a leader in the sports information industry and our “How To” articles are designed to help our members to grasp the fundamentals of sports investing. This article will focus on the ins and outs of wagering on the NBA. The seemingly eternal NBA season starts in late October and the Finals occur in early July. The long season provides many opportunities to build your bankroll, but before you can become a sports investor, you must learn how to bet on the NBA. This article discusses the different wager types the NBA has to offer, including: Spread, Moneyline, Parlay/Teaser, 1st Quarter/1st Half, Halftime, and Futures.

Spread

Any fan of the NBA will tell you that games can become high scoring affairs as teams are only given 24 seconds on every possession to score. Due to these high scores, bookmakers use a spread, or line, to equalize the chances of either team winning a wager. It is not uncommon to see 15+ point spreads, something that is rarity in the NFL. The example below from the SI Archive should help clear things up:

The example above demonstrates the opening line for a regular season match-up between the Celtics and Knicks. The -2 indicates that the Celtics are the favorite, despite the Knicks playing at home. The ‘-110’ next to the line is what’s known as the vig, or juice, which is simply a fee the sportsbooks charge to use their service. A bet of $110 on Boston would improve your bankroll $100 as the team covered easily by 8 points. A ‘+’ symbol always indicates an underdog, whereas a ‘-‘ always indicates a favorite. A two-year study on NBA point spreads concluded that games fall within .5 points of the spread 5.5% of the time, which is why shopping for the best line is crucial to the smart sports investor.

Moneyline

The Moneyline is a type of wager that provides different odds based simply on who will win. The Moneyline (ML) odds can be drastic when the powerhouses of the NBA face-off against the lower level teams who are struggling to stay above .500. The example below demonstrates a typical Moneyline wager in the NBA:

The example above shows drastic moneyline odds, indicating that the Spurs are the big favorites in this contest. In fact, one would have to lay $850 on the Spurs to collect a mere $100 in profit. On the other hand, a wager of $100 on the Warriors would earn the bettor $600 in winnings. The Moneyline and point spread are not necessarily released simultaneously.

The Spread and Moneyline are contributing factors for Sports Insights’ Steam Moves and Smart Money plays, both available in our Sportsbook Insider Pro plan.

Totals

A total wager is one placed on the COMBINED score of each team. This number is determined by the bookmakers and the bettor places a wager on the over or under (O/U). The NBA is the highest scoring sport of all the major U.S. sports, so it is not uncommon to see totals in the +220’s. The example below should help makes things clearer:

The final total for this contest was 194 points, falling just 3.5 points short of the bookmakers’ predicted total. Due to the increased juice, a wager of $115 on the under would earn $100 profit. Totals lines can fluctuate from their time of release, so make sure you consult SportsInsights.com’s Betting Trends Data before placing a wager.

Quarter/1st Half Lines

A 48-minute NBA game is broken down into four 12-minute quarters, and bettors are able to place bets on the 1st quarter and 1st half lines before these contests begin. These bets can be best thought of as the game within the game. The 1st quarter line (generally ¼ of the entire game’s spread) lets you dictate who you think will be covering the spread at the end of one quarter of play. The 1st half lines are essentially the same, only they extend through the 1st half of play. Like other sports, some teams are known to jump out of the gate quickly and build an early lead, while others are “4th quarter teams” who like to play from behind. These situations are some of the inspirations for 1st quarter and half lines. (you can keep or delete this above sentence, I couldn’t decide)

Halftime Lines

For most people, the dawning of halftime means it’s time to change the channel, but for the avid sports investor, halftimes can become a thing of profit. Halftime lines are available DURING halftime only. The halftime lines take into consideration what transpired in the 1st half to create an entirely new spread for the remainder of the game. Think of the 2nd half as a completely new game with a new spread to accompany the remainder of the contest. The example below should shed light on this concept:

If you were to think of the start of the 3rd quarter as 0 to 0, the final score would be 44 to 37, meaning the Bulls would have covered the halftime spread by 3 points. Halftime wagers are not nearly as popular as bets placed before the game, but a winning wager still creates the same profit.

Parlay/Teaser

Like any major American sport, you can parlay, essentially combine, your bets to increase the payout. For your parlay to hit, or win, ALL of the bets must cover. You can combine spread, totals, and moneyline bets to increase the payout of a parlay. A teaser bet is essentially the same as a parlay wager only the booksmaker gives you points to increase your odds of winning, but decrease your overall payout. For example, if you are wagering on a 4-point teaser and the Boston Celtics spread is -10, it would become -6. This 4-point advantage is included on each part of the teaser wager. The chart below shows payout structure for a typical spread parlay:

Futures

Futures bets are proposition bets placed on which team will win what conference or the NBA championship. Futures are not only limited to teams. For example, you can place bets on who you think will the league’s MVP. There are even bets available at the beginning of the season as to the over/under win totals for a specific team. As the season progresses, the odds fluctuate, and once a team has officially been placed out of the running, they take down the odds for them to win in all. It is not uncommon to see teams fall from this list before the end of March. Despite the fact that only 8 different teams have won the NBA championship in the last 30 years, many bettors like to wager on a dark horse team due to the better odds these teams receive. A bettor may choose to place wagers on several teams to win the big game in order to increase the chance of a decent payout.

Navigating through countless lines in NBA betting can be challenging and confusing, especially for a beginner. However, if you already have your way around the sport itself, then your journey to being a proper bettor would be shorter. For a newbie, you might think that sports betting is complicated. You’re not exactly wrong.

There may be many terms that can be confusing for you, like betting the spread, money line, overs and unders, etc. That said, we will be talking about them later on, and we’ll also discuss some other things you need to know to start your betting journey. Luckily for you, basketball is quite a simple game, so it would be easier for you to transfer all your knowledge about the game in betting. The only thing you need to do is to learn the basics.

Know How to Read Betting Odds

Before we discuss things further, you need to know first how to read and understand the odds. Familiarizing them would make the learning curve much easier to traverse. Odds are always expressed with a plus (+) sign and a minus (-) sign. The plus sign means that the team is an underdog and the minus sign means that the team is a favorite.

Let’s look at an example:

San Antonio Spurs (-110)

Orlando Magic (+110)

The numbers beside the plus and minus signs are the actual odds. In this case, the bettors would need to wager $100. The additional $10 is the vig or juice, which is how bookies profit. However, you don’t need to bet exactly a hundred dollars since it’s up to you how much you want to bet with.

Pick a Good Sportsbook

It’s also important to know that you can bet online. In fact, there are a lot of online sportsbooks that you could try, like www.fanduel.com. However, just make sure that the sportsbook you will be placing your bets with is trustworthy.

But how would you know if a sportsbook is legitimate? You can check their legitimacy by looking for their sportsbook license on their website. Also, you can check their reviews and user rating to get a good idea of how good their services are.

Sign Up

Once you find the perfect sportsbook for you, you can then sign up on their website in a few easy steps. Not only that, most sportsbooks nowadays run promotions for new members like discounts and other promotional stuff.

Make a Deposit

This is where you will deposit the money that you want for betting. Thankfully, most sportsbooks nowadays employ several payment options on their website. By depositing money, a new account will be created for you, where you can also receive the money you’ll win in your bets.

Place Your Bets

Now that you’ve signed up and deposited your money. You can now choose from a variety of bets you can place on the NBA. But since you’re a beginner, it might be better for you to learn two of the most popular types of bets in the NBA.

Betting the Point Spread

Spread betting is the most popular type of bet in sports betting. Unlike Moneyline betting, spread betting doesn’t require you to outright bet on who you think will win the game. Instead, spread betting is all about covering the spread.

Betting on the favorite means that for you to win the bet, they need to win and have a specific point difference. If you bet on the underdog, they have to lose within a specified number of points or outright win the game for you to win the bet.

Let’s look at another example:

San Antonio Spurs -6.5

Orlando Magic +6.5

In this example, since the Spurs have the minus (-) sign, they are slated to win the game and are the favorites. If you bet on them, they have to win with at least a 7-point difference. However, if you bet on Orlando, they have to lose by six points or outright win the game for you to win the bet.

Moneyline Betting

Moneyline is the easiest type of bet in sports betting. With this bet, you have to pick which of the teams will be the winner. Just like spread betting, the favorite and underdog will be signified by a plus (+) and a minus (-), respectively. The associated numbers beside the signs are your prospective payout or the amount of money you have to bet with.

Let’s go back to the previous example with different numbers.

San Antonio Spurs -200

How To Get In Nba

Orlando Magic +180

In this example, the -200 means that you have to bet $200 on the Spurs to win $100. If you bet on Orlando for $100, you’ll have a chance to win $180.

How To Bet In Nba Finals

Takeaway

How To Get In Nba Draft

NBA betting is a lot similar to other types of sports betting. The only difference is that NBA betting is a lot easier than the other ones. This is because the sport itself is straightforward. Understanding how the lines are made and how to bet with them is essential for you to learn if you want to dive deeper into NBA betting. Now that we’ve covered the basics, it’s now up to you if you want to learn the more complicated stuff.