How To Bet On The NBA
December 21, 2011
Filed under NBA News
Sports betting handicappers are chomping at the bit, as the NBA is set to return to action on Sunday December 25, with five games to kick off the 2011 – 12 season. This season has had plenty of hype, after one of the longest lockouts in NBA history. On paper, many teams have improved in a short amount of time and should be fun to wager. Here is a guide to wager on the NBA.
Similar to the NFL, the NBA uses several betting genre that can help fans net a profit. The three most common genres are the money line, point spread and totals. For all intents and purposes, we’ll go over the bookie software niches of money line and point spread wagers using the Los Angeles Clippers and Toronto Raptors as examples.
The money line is also known as the universal straight wager, and requires the bettor to do two things. Firstly, the bettor must pick the team they believe will win the game outright. Secondly, if the bettor takes the favorite, they have to risk more and receive less, but if they take the underdog, they can risk less and receive more. The reason for this is that the favorite is the team expected to win, while the underdog is expected to lose. Here is how it appears.
Toronto Raptors +150
LA Clippers – 180
In this example, the Toronto Raptors are the underdog, as depicted by the positive integer beside the 150. For that reason, bettors taking the Raptors to win need only risk $100 to receive back $150 since Toronto is going to lose. Conversely, Clippers must wager $180 to get back $100 since they are expecting a win.
On the point spread, the bettor is wagering on how much they believe the favorite will win by or if the underdog will cover. Here is how it appears.
Toronto Raptors
LA Clippers – 3.5
In this examples, the bookies believe that the Clipper will win the game by three and a half points. However, in order for a bettor backing the Clippers to win their wager, they must hope the Clippers win by four points. On the other side of things, Toronto simply has to lose by three points or less to win the bet.
