A quick introduction to betting on the NBA

That basketball takes some beating as a thrill a minute spectator sport shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to anyone reading this but there’s also a growing number of basketball fans (and savvy punters for that matter) who are starting to realise that it’s also a pretty engaging sport to bet on. And with the new NBA season just around the corner, there will be plenty of opportunities to do just that.

Basketball certainly isn’t at the forefront of sports betting here in Australia so if you happen to think that the NBA is the best show in town and enjoy the odd flutter here’s a quick primer.

Why should you bet on the NBA?

Betting on the NBA can be a very lucrative past time if it’s done correctly, there are tonnes of opportunities as the season is so long. Each team will end up playing at least 82 games and that’s before the playoffs. So the amount of betting opportunities available (on a good day there will be up to 15 games played) make betting on the NBA a no-brainer if you follow the sport and have a little bit of knowledge about the game.

If you’re not an expert there are sites out there offering tips, my advice is to treat these with caution, as it’s very easy to upload a few picks without any real knowledge of the game just to see what happens. It’s a good idea to track a few sites and make a note how accurate they were before you start taking their advice and placing bets.

While you’re doing your research you can follow the basketball odds here at Betfair.

Always do your research

Before you part with your hard earned cash it’s a good idea to ensure you know what you’re doing. We all think we know the teams and the players but it can’t hurt to do some reading before placing a bet. Online bookies like Betfair offer plenty of opportunities for every game played in the NBA so even if it means you miss a few it’s worth taking your time.

Running an eye over the seemingly endless stats collected on the NBA site is a great place to start, it won’t cost you anything and you may spot something that the bookies haven’t in which case you’ll be at an advantage.

How to bet on the NBA

There are so many ways to bet on the NBA you could write a book about it. In fact, many people have. One of the most popular ways is spread betting or handicapping. This is a system the bookmakers came up with to get people betting on games where the two teams facing each other have very different abilities. Normally this would make the game to easy to call and therefore not that profitable to bet on. So the favorite team is assigned a number of points they must win by. If they win by that amount of points then you win the bet.