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.

When you bet the point spread of a basketball game, you are betting on how many points the team is going to either win or lose. As with football, NBA point spread betting lines can be identified by their use of the (+) or (–) symbols. Toronto Raptors -7 Indiana Pacers +7. The basic idea behind betting on NBA basketball is placing a real-money wager on an outcome with specific odds and payout determined by the house. Should the wager prove successful, the bettor is paid their winnings (initial bet amount + profit) from the house at the predetermined payout agreed to at the time of the wager.

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:

You make a straight bet when you wish to place a wager on single side of a game and to win it, you must correctly choose the team that will cover the spread or the total (Over/Under). Another betting strategy to consider is momentum. When a team gets hot, it can often string together huge winning streaks both straight up and against the spread. Similarly, bad teams can rack 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.

Point Spread betting is basically betting by how much a certain team will win or lose. The whole concept of point spreads is based on the principle of underdogs and favorites. The favorites (a team that is expected to win) “lays” points to the underdog (a team that is expected to lose) to make up the difference in equality. Do not confuse it with over/under betting, where you are betting whether the total score of the teams will be over or under a predicted amount (see our Basketball Over/Under Betting article). The whole point is to provide an incentive for the bettors to wager on the underdogs and balance the sides on betting a little.

* Please see illustration below to help understand point spread bets, text explanation follows.

(-110) Line
Unless specified otherwise, it is always assumed that the money line for spreads is (-110). That is, if you bet $110 on either of the teams, you will get $100 back. Once in awhile you will see different money lines for different spreads. This will most likely happen in some kind of alternative bets, like proposition wagers.

Point Spread Examples:
– Boston Celtics are playing against Miami Heat in the NBA playoffs.

• Boston Celtics (+5)
• Miami Heat (-5)

If you are betting on Boston, then they have to win by 5 points for you to win. For example, if the final score is 96-90 for Boston, then Celtics won by 6 points, which is larger than 5; thus, if you bet $110 on Boston, you will win $100 profit, assuming that it is a standard (-110) line.

If you are betting on the Miami Heat, then they can lose by no more than 5 points – or win. For example, if the final score is 103-100 for Boston, then Miami Heat only lost by 3 points. 3 is less than the 5 point spread, so you will win $100 profit if you bet $110.

A “Push”

In the above example, if the final score is 105-100 for the Celtics, then the spread is exactly 5 points. Thus, Boston did not win by more than 5 points, but instead, they “tied” it. In such cases, sportsbooks have to return the wagers to the bettors.

To prevent this, a lot of the times sportsbooks will utilize a 0.5 element. That is, they will show the same odds as:

How To Bet On Spread Basketball Hoop

• Boston Celtics (+5.5)
• Miami Heat (-5.5)

In this case, Boston has to win by more than 5 points and Miami could lose by 5 or less points, for it to happen. If the spread is 105-100 for Boston, those who bet on Miami will win the spread.

How To Bet On Spread Basketball Predictions

Basketball Point Spread Betting Tips and Strategies

Point spreads are the most widely available type of bet in basketball. A lot of the time, the best spreads will be the biggest ones. It sounds counter-intuitive at first but it is rather easy to grasp once you get a hang of it. Will the Bulls lose to the Lakers by less than 1 point or by less than 20 points? If you are betting that the Bulls are going to lose by less than 20 points, then they can still lose by that 1 point and your bet will be a winner. Hence, look at different sportsbooks and find the biggest spreads. The money line for it will most likely be at (-110) anyways, so you will be getting the same money for a higher probability of winning.

Be Objective

How To Bet On Spread Basketball Players

Another important basketball point spread betting tip is to always stay objective. Many basketball fans tend to let their emotions get in the way of their wagers. For example, Notre Dame is playing UCLA in the NCAA playoffs. Maybe you went to Notre Dame and you are a huge fan of their basketball team. Clearly you are biased towards that team. Even if you know that Notre Dame might lose, you are inclined to bet on them regardless of any spreads, simply because you like them. That is a subjective bet that will lead you to losing money. The best thing to do when you know that you have a bias towards a certain team is to stay away from that bet entirely; think strategically and not emotionally when dealing with money.