Basketball betting - everything you should know

A lot of people concentrate so much on football betting that they ignore basketball betting. In this post, we'll be explaining the basics of basketball betting. You'll learn everything you need to know to enable you to place your next bet on a basketball match. Basketball is a sport enjoyed by millions of people. If you have any knowledge of basketball or frequently watch basketball games, then you will be able to place bets easily after reading this article. Basketball is a relatively easy sport to bet on. Contrary to what a lot of people think, games are not scarce. In the NBA [National Basketball Association], there are about 30 teams. Each team plays 82 games in a regular season. 41 of those games are played at home and 41 are played away.

Basketball Bet Types

Just like in football, basketball has its own bet types. Here are some of the most common ones.

1 x 2

1 x 2 is a very popular type of bet. It simply means which team will win/lose or draw at the end of the match. 1 stands for the home team to win, X stands for a draw and 2 stands for the away team to win. 1 x 2 odds are present in almost every game type as it is easy to understand and to make use of. This type of bet is also known as a three-way-bet. With basic knowledge of basketball and betting, you should be able to pull this off.

1 x 2 and Total

In 1 x 2 and total betting, you predict two things at once. You predict who will win and that the total points scored would be either under or over a particular number.

Handicaps

Handicap bets are also present in a wide number of games. Handicap betting simply means giving a team you think is much better than the other a handicap. You are saying that even if you give the weaker team goals ahead, they'd still fail to win. Imagine if The Golden State Warriors play against the Philadelphia 76ers. One could rightly assume that the Golden State Warriors would win by 5 points and decide to give them a 5point handicap. This means that according to your bet, the match between The Golden State Warriors and Philadelphia 76ers has already started at 0:5. If The Golden State Warriors score 10 points and the Philadelphia 76ers score 2, your actual result would be 10:7. The match would then end in favour of the Golden State Warriors and you would win the bet.

Under/Over

Under and over bet simply means predicting that the total points scored in the match by the two teams will be either under or over a particular number. Betting under 167.5 means that you are staking that the total number of goals in the match will not exceed 167. Whereas betting over 167.5 means that the minimum number of goals that will be scored in a match must reach 168. When it comes to under/over betting, it doesn't matter what side scores more points.

Teams under/Over

This is very similar to under and over. The difference is that it is personal points. You are betting on the total points scored by individual teams. If there’s a game between Chicago Bulls and Miami heat, you can bet that Chicago bulls will score under 78.5. This means that they will score 78 points or less. You can also bet that Miami heat will score Over 84.5. This means that they will score a minimum of 85 points.

Race to X points

Here you predict which team will reach a number of points first. For example, if there is a race to 20, you pick the team you think will score 20 points first.

Best score

This type of bet allows you to predict which team will have the best score in each part of the match. You can bet on who will have the best score in the first quarter, or who will have the best score in the second quarter, or who will have the best score in the third or fourth quarter. Then you can pick the team with the highest-scoring quarter. This doesn't mean who will win. Imagine one team scoring 20, 25, 16, 14 in the four quarters respectively while the second team scores 20, 24, 23, 21. If you calculate the total scores in all 4 quarters, the second team won. However, the first team scored up to 25 in a quarter but the second team didn’t. So the first team wins the highest-scoring quarter.

Winning margin

Here you not only predict who will win but you will also predict the margin. If you feel that the Golden State Warriors will beat the Boston Celtics, you can choose how wide you think the margin will be. You can bet on them beating them by 1-5 points, 6-10 points, 11-15, 16-20, etc.

Team to score

Here, you and pick the first and last teams to score a point. There are also various bets that can come up under this section. For example, you can bet that the first score of the match will be a two-pointer or that it will be a free throw. You can also bet that the first score of the match will be a three-pointer. Various probabilities come up here.

Odds in basketball

These odds are no different from the normal odds you are aware of. They are really straightforward. If there happens to be a particular bet type with a 2.5-odd attached, the amount you make entirely depends on your stake. Your stake refers to how much you bet. So, if you bet ₦400, your stake is ₦400. To find how much you will make, you simply multiply your odds by your stake. In this case, you will multiply 2.5 by ₦400. You will get 1000 naira. However, ₦1000 isn't your profit. Remember that your stake is like your capital and your profit or gain is what you earn minus your capital. So when you take away ₦400 from your ₦1000, you’ll realize that you have a profit of ₦600.

So with these tips in your fingertips, you are set to bet on basketball and win. 

Check this out. Unity gives you 10 reasons why you should bet today: