If you have a basic understanding of sports and online wagering, betting on the NBA will be fun and profitable for you. 

The online gambling industry has been growing rapidly, and if you’re new to betting or have never bet before, you need to understand its basics. 

Before learning how to win a bet in the NBA, you should know how to read odds and other betting terminologies.

Reading basketball odds

Favorite/underdog

The underdog is always indicated by the plus sign (+) and the favorite by the minus sign (-).

The odds of a team are +110 or -110. Next to each plus and minus sign, there are the actual odds. In this case, the bet size is $100, and $10 represents the commission the sportsbook collects for every bet. 

There is no minimum wager. You can bet for as little as $5 or as high as you want; however, it’s crucial to be careful and bet what you can afford.

Money line

Moneyline betting, also known as straight-up betting (SU), involves picking the winner of an event. For example, if the Toronto Raptors are favorites against the Boston Celtics, you can bet that they will win outright. The odds would be as follows:

Using the above example, one could bet on the Raptors at -150 odds or the Celtics at +250. In this case, one wins the bet if the Raptors win. Any margin of victory is irrelevant.

If you bet $150 on the Raptors, you would win $100 and receive $250 in return. If you bet $100 on the Celtics, you would receive a return of $150 for a payoff of $250 if the Celtics win.

Point spread

In basketball betting, the team you bet on must have a winning or losing margin that is less than the specified margin.

• Raptors -4.5
• Celtics +4.5

Again let’s take the example of Raptors and Celtics. This example shows the Raptors as 4.5-point favorites. They must win by at least 5 points to be considered a winner.

The Celtics don’t need to win the game outright. They cover the spread if they lose by 4 points or less.

Over/under

A totals bet involves wagering on the cumulative final score going OVER or UNDER a set number of points. There can be over or under 220 points in a match between the Raptors and Celtics.

If you wager on the OVER, the total points need to be more than 220 to win, and the collective score must be 219 or less to win a wager on the UNDER. In OVER/UNDER betting, the bet is refunded if the shared points equal the oddsmakers’ set number called Pushes. 

Prop bets

It’s common to see NBA prop bets during the season. A prop is a wager made on the outcome of an event or highlight that is not directly associated with the outcome of the game. The following occurrences will be shown as props for players and teams:

• How many assists will a particular player have?
• What will be the Raptors’ first-quarter point total against the Celtics?
• Which player will have the most rebounds against the Celtics?

The benefits of props are that you don’t need to focus on whether a team will cover the spread or win straight up.

How to win the most in NBA betting?

• You can gain an edge while betting on NBA games by starting your bets as soon as the market opens each morning. It’s advantageous to bet early so that you can capitalize on mistakes made on the initial oddsmaker’ lines before the errors are corrected.
• Follow injury news and react to it. Always keep an eye on injury news and bet on games where injuries are likely to make a major impact.
• Betting on games live has become one of the most popular forms of wagering for sports fans. It allows you to place a wager after the game has already started.
• As the in-game odds change frequently depending on what happens, you can use it to their advantage. Take advantage of the volatility of a game, set up arbitrage opportunities, or hedge previous bets to increase your profits.