Online Basketball Betting

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1 day ago  In the ACC basketball betting odds posted on this game by the folks at BetAnySports, North Carolina is laying a lot of points: North Carolina Tar Heels - 9.5 Miami Hurricanes + 9.5. We are licensed and regulated by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement as an Internet gaming operator in accordance with the Casino Control Act N.J.S.A. 5:12-1 and its implementing regulations.


ATS College Basketball Odds Explanation: College Basketball Betting Lines

The college basketball betting market can be overwhelming. With more than 350 teams, all lined on a regular basis, there can be a lot of games and a lot of scrolling on days like Thursday and Saturday. It can be a challenge to keep everything straight when it comes to college hoops, but the starting point is knowing what the odds mean and what the different bet types are.

Note that college basketball is often abbreviated CBB, NCAAB, NCAABB, or CBK in the interest of saving space.

Let’s take a look at the different odds and bet types you will see here at ATS and explain what they mean.

Top Sportsbooks for College Basketball Betting

Carefully choosing the right sportsbook(s) for your college basketball betting is important. Not all sportsbooks will list all of the conferences and the teams. If you want to bet the more obscure, smaller conferences because they are local or because you feel like your best edges come there, you will have to figure that out by looking at the odds on a daily basis.

Some of the suggestions that we have would be BetMGM, BetRivers, DraftKings, William Hill, and PointsBet. Each state also has its own sportsbook operators and offerings and we encourage you to look under the Sports Betting menu at the top of our website to see what is available in your jurisdiction.

NBA Point Spreads

College Basketball Spreads

Spread betting is the default setting for our odds page. Teams are not created equal in all sports, but there are certainly some very big talent gaps in college hoops. A spread is essentially a handicap placed on the better team. It would be too easy to pick the better team to win. Instead, the better team will be the “favorite”, identified by the minus (-) sign in front of the spread. The other team is the “underdog”, identified by the plus (+) sign in front of the spread.

A team might be -7.5 in a college basketball game. The other team would be +7.5. In this scenario, the favorite would have to win by eight or more points to “cover the spread”. The underdog would have to lose by seven or fewer points or simply win the game outright to cover the spread.

To see which team covered the spread, you would either subtract 7.5 points from the favorite or add 7.5 points to the dog. You do NOT do both. It is one or the other, either based on the team that you bet or based on whichever one you choose to use when looking the final result.

The -110 behind the spread is called the vigorish, also known as vig for short or “juice” as a slang term. This is a way for bookmakers to balance risk and is also part of the house edge. The vig will not always be -110. It could be -115 or -120 or some other number from +120 to usually as high as -130 on the spread before the spread itself is adjusted.

If you add or subtract the spread and the two teams are tied, the bet is a “push” and your bet amount is refunded.

College Basketball Totals

College basketball totals can be all over the map. There are so many college basketball teams and conferences that there are wide variances in totals lines. There can be totals as low as 100, but totals as high as being in the 180s. It all depends on the team and conference.

No matter the line, the objective is always the same. You either bet over the total or under the total. If the total is 150 and 151 points are scored by the two teams combined, the game is an over. If 149 points are scored, the game is an under. If exactly 150 points are scored, the bet is a “push” and your wager is refunded.

Like spreads, totals also have vigorish. Once again, the industry standard is -110 and the vig can vary based on how the sportsbooks are looking to balance action.

Best basketball bets today
College Basketball Money Lines

The goal with this bet type is to pick the winner of the game. As mentioned, there are some very big differences between teams in college hoops. There is no spread with a money line wager, but the vig is much different than it is for spread and total betting.

In a money line wager, you might see a favorite of -260 and an underdog of +220. The size of the money line is correlated to the spread on the game. The bigger the spread, the bigger the minus price on the favorite and the larger the plus price on the underdog.

With all bets that have vig, you will decide between betting “To Win” or betting “To Risk”. For example, you might bet $26 To Win $10 on a -260 favorite. You might bet “To Risk” $10 to win $3.85.

Favorite money lines are higher risk, lower reward and underdog money lines are lower risk, higher reward.

College Basketball Prop Betting and Futures Betting

Futures betting is very popular in college basketball because of the postseason tournament format and how easy it can be to hedge. Futures betting entails betting on something to happen in the future, like Duke to win the ACC or Michigan to win the Big Ten. It could mean something like betting Florida State to win the NCAA Tournament or Syracuse to win the NIT.

Those bet types are bigger plus prices because of the variety of different outcomes and the risk involved with making a bet so far into the future.

Prop betting is less prevalent in college basketball because of the number of teams, but that would consist of something like Over/Under Zion Williamson points or Over/Under Ja Morant rebounds. Those will have something resembling standard vig.

You can also usually bet on futures like Player of the Year or Most Outstanding Player for the NCAA Tournament. Some people consider these props, but some also consider them to be futures.

If you enjoy betting on basketball, then you should be using a basketball betting site. More accurately, you should be using one of the best basketball sites.
This will ensure that you have an excellent, and safe, online betting experience, and get to benefit from all the advantages that the top sites have to offer.
We explain just what it is that makes them so good further down this page, but before we get to that we’ve listed what we consider to be the top sites at
this moment in time.

RankGambling SiteDeposit BonusGet Started
#1 Up To €150Visit Site
#2
22Bet Sports
100% Up To €122Visit Site
#3100% Up To €200Visit Site
#4
10Bet Sports
100% Up To €50Visit Site
#5100% Up To €50Visit Site

Basketball is a sport that could have been made just for betting. It’s such a high speed and high scoring sport, with regular changes in momentum, that betting on it is like riding a rollercoaster. You might be at the top of the world one minute, and throwing beer bottles at your TV the next.

Many people involved with basketball hate the fact that betting takes place on the sport. They worry about its potential for corrupting the game. They might have a point too. Cases such as the one of Tim Donaghy, a referee who was found to be betting on games that he officiated, certainly suggest so. However, basketball is simply too much fun to pass up on. The amount of betting action the sport attracts is testament to that.

It’s not just about the fun either, as betting on basketball offers the opportunity to make good money if you know what you’re doing. And of the first things you should be doing, even if you only bet for fun, is making sure that you use a quality and trustworthy betting site. That’s why we’ve made the recommendations above. If you’re looking for somewhere to place your basketball wagers, these are the places you should be joining.

You can find out more about exactly why we recommend these sites below. We’ve made some alternative recommendations too. There’s also some further information on basketball betting, and on the sport itself.

How to Bet on Basketball
About the Sport of Basketball

About Our Rankings

There are three main reasons why we recommend the sites listed at the top of this page. These are as follows.

Picks
  • They are safe and secure
  • They provide comprehensive coverage
  • They offer a good slection of wagers

Let’s take a look at why each of these three reasons are so important.

Safety and Security

There are plenty of people who think that online betting is dangerous. The media in general doesn’t do a good job of covering online sports betting, so it’s not really surprising that people don’t know much about it. And people often think the worst about things they don’t really understand. If you’re one of these people, please allow us to address your concerns.

By using a legitimate betting site, your money will be just as safe as if you were betting with a reputable sportsbook in Nevada, or with any other well-known bookmaker. The top sites are perfectly reputable and trustworthy, and you have nothing to worry about when using them. But it is important that you use the right sites. There are some bad operators out there, with questionable reputation, and these must be avoided. And you will avoid them if you stick with the sites that we recommend.

We never recommend any gambling site of any type to our readers unless we are completely confident that they are safe and legit to use.

Basketball Coverage

The sites we recommend cover the NBA, NCAA, and often some international leagues. This is important, because you want as many opportunities as possible to make some money. If you only have the option to bet on a handful of different games, then it’s much harder to find wagers with positive expected value. If you have the option to bet a wide variety of different games, then it becomes much easier.

Selection of Wagers

A good selection of wagers is important for the same reason as good coverage of basketball. You don’t just need to be able to bet a variety of different games, you also need plenty of options for how you bet on those games. If you can only place one or two different types of wager, your chances of making money will be limited. If you have the choice of many different types of wagers, your chances improve.

More Ranking Criteria

There are also several other factors we take into account when ranking these, or any, sites. Here are a few of the things we look for that are particularly relevant for sports betting sites.

  • Multiple Deposit Options
  • Fast Withdrawals
  • Easy to Use
  • Reputation & History
  • Competitive Odds & Lines
  • Good Customer Service

You can find out more about the ranking process we use in the article detailing how we compile our gambling site rankings.

Alternative Recommendations

We compile rankings of the best sports betting sites in several different categories, as we know that everyone has their own individual preferences and requirements. One site might be perfect for someone, but not right at all for someone else. The sites listed at the top of this page are most definitely ideal options if you want to bet on basketball, but there are some alternatives you might want to consider.

If you bet mostly from your mobile device, for example, then you might want to consider a site that is particularly good for mobile betting. We’ve ranked the best sites for mobile betting, and the majority of these cover basketball very well.

You might want to consider using a specialist live betting site too. Live, or in-play, betting is ideal for basketball. The fast pace of the game makes for an intense experience when betting on the action as it happens. The sites on the following page are the best options for live betting, and they all cover at least most basketball matches from the major leagues.

The final alternatives to consider are those that are good for a range of different sports. This won’t be relevant to you if you only bet on basketball, but if you do bet on other sports then there are some advantages of using the sites that we rank as the best sports betting sites overall.

How to Bet on Basketball

There are four main wagers that account for the majority of betting action on basketball. These are follows:

  • Point Spreads
  • Moneylines
  • Totals
  • Props

Point Spreads

Point spreads generally have very similar odds for both teams, but the favored team must win by a certain margin for a wager on them to be successful.
The underdog has to lose by no more than a certain margin for a wager on them to be successful. Here’s an example of a point spread that might be
offered by a bookmaker.

Miami (-5)
-110

In this case, you’d need Miami to win by more than five points if betting on them. If betting on Portland, you’d need them to win or lose by less than five points. A bet on either team would be a push (tie), if Miami won by exactly five points. -110 are the odds for each wager, which means a $110 stake is required to win $100.

Moneylines

Moneyline wagers are simply bets on which team is going to win the game. The odds for a team will reflect their chances of winning. The favored teams have lower odds than the underdogs. Here’s how the moneyline might look for the match referenced above.

Miami
-210

Totals

Totals are wagers on the total combined score of both teams. A basketball betting site will set a figure that they think will be close to the total score, and you then bet on whether the actual total score will be higher or lower than that figure. This is how the totals market might look for the match between Portland and Miami.

Under (193)
-115

Online Betting Nfl

Totals are a very simple way to bet on basketball. This perhaps explains why they are so popular, even though it’s not particularly easy to make accurate
predictions regarding the total number of points scored.

Props

Multiplayer Online Basketball

Prop bets are big in basketball. Some of the best basketball betting sites regularly host upwards of 100 different prop bets for a single game. Wagers of this type are typically on outcomes that are related to the game, but not necessarily related to the final outcome. Here are some examples.

Miami
-115
Miami
-2000
Under (19)
-105

This information is pretty much all you need to start betting on basketball, but there’s a lot more to learn if you want the best chance of making some money. We’re currently working on a comprehensive basketball betting guide for our website, and this will be an excellent resource for anyone wanting to improve their basketball betting skills.

Basketball Betting Guide
  • Basketball Betting for Beginners
  • Handicapping Basketball Matches
  • Simple Tips for Success
  • Basketball Betting Options
  • Basic & Advanced Strategies
  • + Much More
Basketball betting system

March Madness Betting

There are several ways to bet on basketball, but arguably the most thrilling basketball betting scene goes down in March Madness. Basketball fans of all walks of life enjoy the excitement of the yearly college basketball tournament, which sets up an intense bracket to help decide each year’s college basketball national champion.

March Madness is most well known for fans filling out their brackets, as numerous websites offer printable and online brackets where fans can dissect and ultimately predict the outcome for each game. With While a perfect bracket is hard to come by, part of the fun can be correctly predicting early round upsets, while also seeing how many teams can last to the Final Four, or even the title game.

On top of the bracket challenge amongst friends, family and co-workers, March Madness also allows for one of the best basketball betting periods of the season. College basketball betting goes down all year, but March Madness opens the door to individual game betting, bracket betting, and long-term national champion bets.

Watch Online Basketball

College basketball’s most prestigious tourney has certainly been no stranger to serious betting action, with the amount of money being spent on March Madness betting growing by the year. The American Gaming Association (AGA) reported a whopping $9 billion in March Madness bets in 2015 and that number only grew ($9.2 billion) in 2016.

The current makeup of the March Madness tournament allows for 68 total teams, with four teams battling in the First Four to simply get into the tourney, and the rest of the teams battling it out in a single-elimination tournament to decide who gets to play for the title.

About the Sport of Basketball

The basketball betting guide mentioned above will also include a detailed section on the sport itself. This will be useful and interesting for anyone who wants to know more about basketball. Learning more about the sport is a good idea for betting purposes too, as solid basketball knowledge can only help when making betting decisions.

Online Basketball Betting

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