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Racebooks &
Online Casinos
>> THE BASICS OF SPORTS BETTING & SPORTSBOOKS
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>> Basketball Wagering
Basketball is the second most popular sport as far as wagering is concerned. With the rekindling of the great Laker / Celtic rivalry throughout the 1980's and the dominance of Bulls in the decade of the 90's, the NBA has gained a whole new audience of bettors. Add to that the tremendous popularity of the NCAA basketball tournament, which has become one of the most anticipated sporting events of the year. In fact, there is more money wagered on the NCAA tournament than is wagered on the Super Bowl!
The NBA currently has 29 teams located throughout the United States and Canada. These teams are divided into two conferences, each with two divisions of seven or eight teams and each play an 82-game regular season schedule. Factor in the preseason and for most teams, the playoffs, and it's easy to realize the scheduling nightmare each team and each player faces in terms of travel, work, and preparation, not to mention the heavy toll that running on those hardwood floors must take on their bodies! We'll get back to how all this can affect your basketball betting strategy, but first we'll show you how the basketball line is read and what kinds of bets you can make.
Basketball bets are based on the point spread, just like in football. When you bet the favorite you give points, and when you bet the underdog you take points. You bet increments of $11 to win $10, and it really doesn't matter who wins the game, as long as your team covers the spread. Basketball odds are often posted to indicate who has the home team advantage and who is favored. Here's how a typical basketball game would read:
A B C Rockets O/V +150 Jazz -4 190 -170
Column A has the Rockets listed on top of the Jazz. The bottom team, unless otherwise noted, is always the home team and in this case, also the favorite because of the -4. The line reads Jazz minus four, so that means the Jazz have to win by more than four points in order to win for wagering purposes. The Rockets (+4) can lose buy four and the bet would still be considered a tie. Houston can actually lose by three or less points and a bet on them would still win because of the four points they are underdogs by.
The total on this game is 190 points, shown in column B. That means if you bet the over, in order for you to win your bet, both teams combined must score than 190 points. If you bet the under, you win if the teams score fewer than 190 points. If the combined total falls exactly on the posted total, in this case 190 points, your over and under bets are considered a tie or no action, and your wager will be refunded.
Column C lists the money line on the game and just like football, the minus 170 means you have to wager $170 to win $100, to get $270 back if the Jazz win. If the Rockets were to win, a $100 bet on the money line would win $150, for a total return of $250.
Parlays and teasers are offered in basketball just as they are in football. The payouts are generally the same as with football. The one big difference is in the points offered in teasers. Basketball teasers offer 4, 4.5, and 5 points per team.
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