One of the most popular sports in America is Basketball. The game has a history in the States and it’s deeply embedded in the culture. But although it’s super popular there, it doesn’t mean that in other corners of the world it isn’t. At least in the past few years the sport gain more traction in certain parts of Europe and is more often in the attention of the media. With all of that attention dedicated to the sport people that are somewhat into the betting community or want to start betting on online platforms are starting to see basketball as an suitable option.
But if you didn’t tried betting before it may see a bit overwhelming at first, so that’s why you are reading this article, hoping to understand how to bet on Basketball without the hustle of memorizing complicated systems or methods on how to properly place a bet. I must say that you are in the right place! In this short discussion i will explain to you how the betting process is for Basketball in an online platform and after this you should be able to place your very own bet. Without any hesitation, let’s move on with the explanation.
Platform selection
First you need to select a betting website that suits you needs. Right now there are a few great sports betting websites that you can choose from. The idea here is that you need a website that is reliable, has a strong internet reputation, offers a wide variety of mobile payment solutions and a great user experience. At first you need to try a few out and with time you will stick with just one, or maybe two. Of course this depends from person to person, but i might recommend you to bet on more the one platform. Why?
Well even though the experience (from the chosen ones) is basically very similar, you may notice that some betting platform have different odds for the same confrontation. This is where it comes in handy to have an account on the second platform so you could compare.
Understanding odds
Now let’s talk a bit about odds and i will explain them as quickly as i can. Basically an odd is a statistical probability for the team to win a confrontation. If the odd is lower, the chance of winning is higher, if the odd is higher, the chance of winning is lower.
Let’s say that TEAM A has the odd 1.5 and TEAM B has 5. If you bet 10€ on TEAM B you will have a potential win of 50€, but the probability of that happening is really low. That’s why it’s recommended to bet only for odds that rage in the 1.8 to 2.3 neighborhood (but sometimes you can make exceptions). Here are the most popular betting types:
Money line basketball betting
This is the simplest form of betting that most of you would understand fairly easy. It is found on many other sports, but i might have different names, in the end it means the same thing. Basically money line betting for basketball is placing your bet on the team that you think they will win the match.
Handicap betting
In this case it’s a little more complicated but don’t sweat, you will get it after i will explain it to you. In this case the teams have a handicap (positive or negative). That number next to the odd is the score that will be subtracted or added to the final score of the game. This means that the potential outcome is influenced.
Let’s say that TEAM A has -5 handicap and a 2.2 odd and TEAM B has a +5 handicap and a 4 odd. If you bet on TEAM A and they won the match by 95 to 93 you will lose. Why? Because you have to subtract 5 from the final score, 95 and this means that they loose with 90 to 93.
Totals betting (over and under)
Basically here you will bet on the total score of the game. You can bet on the over the total amount or under the total amount. Each type of betting type has its own odd. This is a very convenient way of betting when the teams are really close in terms of game performance and the odds aren’t that different.
Conclusion
In large those are the main betting types that you will encounter most often on basketball betting. I hope that i could come in aid for those of you that needed support in this matter. With time you will get better and better at betting at can expect positive results. But it takes time, patience (a lot of patience) and a bit of luck.
And don’t forget one very important thing: do your betting responsibly.
