Basketball has long been a favourite in the US and has grown in popularity worldwide over the years and continues to do so at a rapid pace. More and more sports betting companies have added basketball to their menus.
The National Basketball Association, NBA, is single-handedly responsible for the growth in support for basketball worldwide. Last year the NBA launched a league in Africa, and stars from America grace the occasion each year.
Popular Markets For Basketball
Basketball does not have as many markets like football, but all of them are pretty popular with punters. Let us break down some of the popular betting markets in basketball and how they work.
Moneyline
The moneyline bet is a pick on which team will win the game. It does not carry any other stipulations; the team simply needs to win. If you pick London Lions to beat Bristol Flyers, it does not matter if they win by one point or a 100.
A moneyline wager is used when a point spread chance is not there. Sports like football (soccer in America), baseball, and hockey usually have small victory margins, making points spread irrelevant.
The stronger team or favourites get odds that are lower and less profitable than the underdogs. The odds are calculated by bookmakers using a combination of factors. In basketball, the calibre of players in the team weighs highly on the odds for that team..
How To Calculate A Moneyline Payout
Online sportsbooks in America have the NBA and NCAA basketball as the main options for anyone interested in placing bets on the sport. Sportsbooks that have a global footprint like BetOnline have leagues from Europe, Asia, and Australia on their menu. You can use their popular betonline promo code 2021 to place bets on South Korea KBL, Turkey Super Ligi, and Israel Super League.
The term moneyline originated in the USA, but many betting sites outside America use it. We will put the decimal format in brackets to make it easier to understand how a moneyline is calculated.
If Team A is given -240 (1.40 in decimal form) and you want to put £200 on them winning, you need to first divide 240 by 100, which is 2.40. Then divide your stake of £200 by 2.40, the answer you get, £83.33, which is your potential winnings. So the formula for favourites is: Stack / (Odds / 100) = Potential Profit.
The calculation formula changes when you decide to put your money on the underdogs; instead of dividing, we multiply. If the bookmakers give Team B +210 (3.10 in decimal form) then the calculation becomes: (Odds/100) x Stake = Potential Profit or (210/100) x £200 = £420.
Over / Under Scores
Over and under bets are found in almost all the sporting codes. When you bet under in a match, you say the total combined points will not be more than a prescribed total. If the bet is for under 137.5, then Team A’s points added to Team B’s will be 137 and below. If the two teams’ points add up to 138 or more, the bet is lost. Teams in the NBA tend to score more than 137 points in a game.
Conversely, if you bet on over 137.5, the combined points total of the two teams must be 138 or more for your bet to win. Betting companies usually have three different calculations for you to choose from. Some basketball leagues are low-scoring by nature.
You can also bet on overs and unders for a single team. In this regard, you are simply saying Team A will score more than a certain amount of points (over) or less than (under) a certain number of points. Placing a bet on under 77.5 for Team A will see you collecting on it if they put up 77 points or less. Over 77.5 would then mean they score 78 points or more.
Points Spread
The points spread betting option is more or less made for the sport of basketball. There is usually a significant difference between the number of points scored between basketball teams, especially when a strong team plays a slightly weaker team.
Points spread is a bet on the difference in points between the two basketball teams at the end of a game. If Team A ends the game on 89 points and Team B finishes the game with 79 points, the winning spread would be Team A -9.5. If we subtract 9.5 points from their 89 points, they will still have more than Team B’s 79 points.
Similarly, a spread of Team B +10.5 would also be a winner because adding 10.5 points onto 79 would see Team B having more points than Team A. Bookmakers usually lay point spreads out according to one team’s strength over the other.
The .5 that you see on these bets is to rule out a tie or a push, as it is called in gambling circles. Since there is no scoring of half-points in basketball, there is no hope of there ever being a tie with your bets. It’s either the team score 19 or 20, nothing in between.
Tips For Betting On Basketball
The first and obvious tip is that nothing is guaranteed in sports, least of all basketball. The underdog can topple the so-called favourites on any given night.
With basketball, it is always helpful to keep up to date with team news. A team always has one or two superstars, and if one or both of them are injured, then the outcome of a game is greatly affected. The Los Angeles Lakers will not perform as well if Lebron James is not playing. The London Lions are not as strong when Dirk Williams is not on the court.
The head-to-head statistics of the two teams playing each also indicate what might happen in the match. History has a way of repeating itself in sports events.
