Basketball is a game predominately played throughout the US with them hosting the largest league in the world through the National Basketball Association (NBA). The game does get a worldwide following and not just for the American leagues. Countries such as the UK, Germany, Yugoslavia, China and Spain all host professional leagues with a host of talent throughout.
As these international basketball associations continue to grow, the influx of foreign players into the NBA has been apparent. The likes of Chicago Bulls, LA Lakers and Boston Celtics are synonymous with the sport and are well known whether you are a basketball fan or not, such is the global attraction and appeal of the sport.
The growth has seen a wealth of bookmakers take advantage of these markets around the world by offering extensive betting opportunities for their punters. There’s no doubt that the majority of betting activity will come from that of the NBA and NCAA (college basketball), but the European markets are starting to get a foothold into the basketball betting world.
American betting works slightly differently to that of the ‘standard’ European forms of betting. Whilst European bookmakers will likely offer an array of betting options, it’s important to understand that of American betting styles as well.
Points spread betting is a form of American handicapping. It’s a way for the bookmaker to reduce the gulf in ability between the two teams by basically giving one team a ‘virtual’ head start over their opponents. The points will vary on each team’s ability, but the teams will come with an either positive or negative starting point’s total.
For example, if the home team was +9.5 and the away team -9.5 this means that for the home to win they must be 10 or more points clear at the end, and for the away team to win they must be within 9 or more points. So, even if the away team loses the match and they are 9 or more points within their opponents score, then they will win the bet.
It’s important not to get this form of points spread betting mixed up with a European form of points spreading. This involves taking an over or under at a certain line, then either winning or losing money per point for every point over or under the proposed line. A quick example would be betting L1 per point on basketball for every point over 85 in a match. If the team scores less than 85, say 75 for this example, then you would lose L10 (-10 points at L1 per points). If the team scores 95 then you would win L10 (+10 points at L1 per point).
Like in most team sports, there are many types of basketball betting which you can make some money if you know how to play your bets well.
In Full Time/Match Winner bet, the punter will guess who will win the game after a full game, usually 48 minutes for professional games and only 40 for amateur ones. Because there is a full time version, some bettors like to try their chances in the Half-Time results, which will only include the result of the first half.
Most sportsbook offer Handicap Betting on basketball because the Handicap levels the playing field between teams, so the outcome will likely favor weaker squads. Handicap basketball betting is a valuable tool for punters when one team is heavily favoured over their opponents. To counter the perceived bias in ability, sportsbooks offer a handicap on basketball to level the playing field. For example, if a strong team receives a -15.0 handicap in their next game, it means that their total output at the end of the game will be reduced by 15.0, so the weaker team will have a chance to catch up.
Over/Under Betting on basketball is simple yet hard to bet on, because no can ever know what will happen on the court before it actually happens. In this bet, you will need to guess whether the total points scored by both teams are over the pre-determined number of points, or under it. Usually in basketball betting, to avoid draws, bookies set a numbers with a 0.5 allowance. Hence, if the bookies set the points at 140.5, and the final score was 75-65, it means that those who bet over lose their money, and those who placed their bills at under take home some funds.
Odd-Even Betting is similar to the Over/Under type of basketball betting, where all that matters are the total number of points scored by both teams, and not who won the game. But odd-even betting is harder to bet on because you need to specifically guess whether the total score will be divisible by two or not, unlike in the Over/Under where you only have to guess the range of points.
In competitions, mookmakers offers what they call “outright” winners, or who will become the champion of the said competition. Outright betting is a bet placed on the outcome of an entire competition rather than on an individual game. Outright bets are usually placed before the basketball season starts but are also available even during the course of the competition. Outright bet will be a tough for punters because in the early phases of a tournament, outright betting odds are large enough they reach twin digits, as high as 30.00.
Specials Betting on basketball refer to different bets that are not really based on the game, but on some instance. The most famous special betting that Dafabet offers is the “First to Score” or the “Last to Score”. As the name implies, a punter needs to guess what team will be the first or the last to put the ball into the basket.
