Basketball Betting Guide

From the NBA to the EuroLeague, basketball provides some thrilling, intense action with dramatic buzzer-beaters and physical showdowns. Basketball betting is popular in New Zealand as the points stack up rapidly in matches, keeping punters on the edge of their seats.

In this Betkiwi guide to basketball betting, we have compiled some of the best bookmakers, best basketball betting tips, along with how to avoid some common pitfalls. If you are looking at how to bet on basketball matchups and what the best markets are, read on!

Did you know? Of the first 20 Men’s Basketball Olympic Games tournaments, the USA won the gold medal 16 times.

1. Sportsbet.io

Sportsbet.io is a sports betting platform founded in 2016 by mBet Solutions NV operating under the jurisdiction of Curaçao with licence number 1668/JAZ. Sportsbet.io has several basketball betting markets, including the NBA league and various international competitions. It offers numerous fiat payment methods, along with several popular cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin and Ether.

2. MrPlay Sports

MrPlay is a casino and sports betting platform owned and operated by Aspire Global International LTD, working under licenses from the Malta Gaming Authority and the UK Gambling Commission. The site offers comprehensive basketball betting markets, including NBA and EuroLeague, and supports various deposit and withdrawal methods such as Visa, MasterCard, PayPal, Skrill, and Neteller.

3. 888Sport

888Sport is these days a veteran in the online sportsbook world. The site was established in 2008 and operates under the ownership of 888 Holdings PLC. It provides a wide range of basketball betting markets, including the NBA, EuroLeague, and college basketball. The platform supports various transaction methods, including credit and debit cards, e-wallets like PayPal and Skrill, and bank transfers, ensuring there are lots of safe and quick deposit and withdrawal options for punters.

4. Luckster Sports

Luckster was founded in 2021 and is owned by Marketplay Ltd, with the casino section games being operated by Aspire Global International Ltd. The site is licensed by the Malta Gaming Authority and offers classic basketball betting markets including match winners, point spreads, and over/under points. Deposit and withdrawal methods, among others, include Visa, Mastercard, Poli by AstroPay, Jeton, ecoPayz, and Skrill.

5. Betway Sports

Betway Sports, founded in 2006, is owned by the Betway Group. It operates under licenses from the UK Gambling Commission and the Malta Gaming Authority. In terms of basketball, you can bet on major leagues and tournaments, including the NBA and EuroLeague, and have access to various betting markets such as match winners, points totals, and player performances. The site supports NZD and offers many proven payment methods such as credit and debit cards, PayPal, Neteller, Skrill, and bank transfers.

How Basketball Betting Works

The simplest and most popular form of basketball betting is picking the winner of a match, also known as a moneyline bet. To get started, visit any of the above-recommended sportsbooks and look for the current basketball competitions.

The most popular franchise-based basketball competitions in the world are the NBA and the EuroLeague, but there’s also the Eurocup for European basketball. On the international stage, you’ll want to check out the FIBA Basketball World Cup and the EuroBasket, though both happen only quadrennially.

Just select a game and then pick a market to browse. Choose the bet type and odds that fit your strategy and add it to your slip. Enter the stake to place the bet and then sit back, watch and wait!

Did You Know? New Zealand’s best-ever performance at the FIBA Basketball World Cup was a fourth-place finish in 2002. It is still the only time our team managed to get within the four best teams in the competition.

Basketball Odds Explained

As with other sports betting markets, the odds offered for basketball games essentially show the chances that the bookmaker gives a certain outcome of happening. That’s why understanding basketball betting odds and knowing how realistically they have been set by the bookie are essential to your success.

Looking at the basketball odds in listings can help you figure out where to start. When selecting basketball odds, you will also know the exact return that you are in line for. There will be times when picks on underdogs look too appealing to pass on, even if those longer odds come with a little more risk. On the flip side, a few match favourites could be compiled together into multi-bets and parlays to still get a decent payout on relatively safe bets.

Expert Tip: Learn how to convert your prediction of an outcome happening to odds (an online betting calculator will do the trick!), as that will help you spot value bets easily. Perhaps you think the New York Knicks have a solid 40% chance of winning, but the bookmaker’s odds of 2.8 suggest only a 35% chance. The odds on them are longer than you would expect to see which means potential value for you.

Types of Basketball Bets

Once you start exploring basketball betting, you will quickly notice there are tons of markets and bet types to choose from. That wide coverage gives players plenty of options to explore strategies for parlay bets, a point spread wager or simple money line selections. It can also be daunting for new punters, though, so let’s go through some of the most popular basketball betting markets that Kiwis use at our recommended basketball betting sites:

Winner/Outright Bets

When learning how to bet on basketball, the simplest approach is picking a clear favourite to be a match winner. It’s a popular entry point for newcomers, but on its own will probably have very low payouts.

You will commonly see the bulk of basketball betting tips focusing on the outright match winners. A very similar type of wager is an outright winner bet for a tournament or league – for example, the Boston Celtics winning the NBA. This type of bet gives far better odds, because it’s far more difficult to predict the outcome of an entire season, and there have been numerous upsets in the past which have proven this point aptly.

Handicaps

A popular alternative to the winner market in basketball match betting is the handicap line. There are plenty of situations in sports, basketball included, where one team is a clear favourite, and will have very unfavourable short match outright odds. Enter handicaps, which level the playing field by either giving a favourite a starting point handicap (i.e. starting the game down ten points) or doing the opposite for the underdog. As an example, an underdog handicap like Los Angeles Lakers +5.5 means that as long as the Lakers don’t lose by more than 5 points, the bet would win, even though the team you’re betting on lost. There are different handicap lines for a match, giving punters the chance to tease the odds based on the difference in strength between the teams.

Totals

Basketball bettors commonly turn to the totals market where the match winner is unimportant, as it’s just about how many points are tallied in total. This is an over/under bet like the common over/under 2.5 option in football betting. Based on whether you think a match will be a high or low-scoring one, you pick your spot on the totals line. Alternative ways to approach this is to back an individual team’s total or the points tallied in a certain quarter or half of the match.

Props

The final addition to our list of most popular bets is the so-called prop bets, and there is a great variety available in basketball betting. These bets are usually based on individual players, like an over/under bet on how many points Stephen Curry will score in his next match, or the number of rebounds a player will have at the buzzer. Blocks, steals, and 3-pointers are other popular prop bet markets for basketball. These are certainly not the only interesting prop bets, though: some sportsbooks will allow you to guess which team will score first, or who will win the match MVP award – the variety of these bets is determined only by the bookie’s imagination.

Most Common Basketball Betting Mistakes

Anyone who has ever placed a bet has, at some point, looked back and regretted some rookie mistakes they’ve made. It’s common, especially among novice punters. But mistakes in basketball betting can be a crucial learning tool. Here are some common basketball betting mistakes punters make, so you know to avoid them:

Not Reading Stats

Get up to speed with the sport. If you have never watched basketball before, spend some time getting to know a particular league, the teams, and the star players. Start doing some basic research like form, trends, and head-to-head records. Many of our recommended basketball sportsbooks have helpful stats on their pages. Whether it’s the MLB, NHL, NFL, or NBA, read sports news and absorb as much info as you can about the league and sport you are betting on.

Spreading Yourself Too Thin

New punters can be too eager to bet. Call up the basketball section at any of our top basketball betting sites and you will see match after match listed. Just because there are numerous matches doesn’t mean you have to bet on all of them. We recommend picking one or two teams to start with, so you can really focus on their matches and not spread yourself too thinly.

Only Backing Favourites

Another common mistake is only picking favourites. This isn’t a particularly enjoyable approach to basketball betting, nor is it very worthwhile in terms of payouts. Favourites don’t win all the time and seldom come at odds that give the punter value. Look beyond the rote practice of just picking favourites and search instead for real basketball betting value odds.

Ignoring the Handicap

The handicap basketball betting market is one of the best options you have as a punter. Along with accas, it’s a way to turn predictable results into bigger payouts with a bit of additional risk, or go all-in with risk for chances to make some really big wins. Handicap betting is just as good in basketball as it is in football and other point-based sports.

🔥Lucius’ Hot Take on Basketball Bets

“One big thing people get wrong about sports betting (not just basketball!) is taking it too seriously. Remember that it should be a fun hobby first and foremost! Keep emotions out of all sports betting as it can lead to rash bets and mistakes. I always say it’s a good idea to never bet on the team you support to avoid getting too emotionally invested. A great way to avoid that is by betting on a random college team or international basketball. NBA is overrated as a betting market anyway, and you’ll have better chances for making killer predictions in less popular leagues.”

How to Place a Bet on Basketball

Whatever the basketball league, tournament, or market you prefer, here is a user’s guide to placing a bet on basketball for the first time.

1. Pick one of the recommended online betting sites from our list above.
2. Register an account to join one (or more) of them.
3. Choose a preferred payment method and enter the details.
4. Use the payment method to deposit funds.
5. Look for any welcome offers like a deposit bonus and what you need to do to fulfil it and if a promo code is required.
6. Enter the sportsbook and search for the basketball section to look at the schedule.
7. Find a match and open the page.
8. Look at the markets like moneyline odds, spreads, totals, and pick your odds.
9. Add further selections if required.
10. Enter a stake on the bet slip to place the wager.

Did You Know? One of basketball’s most popular movies, the ‘Slam Dunk’ was banned for almost a decade from 1967 to 1976.

Tips & Strategies for Basketball Betting

Punters will find their own way in basketball betting and that’s a good thing, but here are some basketball betting tips and strategies to help out.

• Odds comparison – Don’t just settle for the odds that you see in one particular sportsbook. Shop around to see if you can get better odds for your selection by doing an odds comparison.
• Do your homework – Never skip on analysis of reading statistics, form and tips for basketball betting outcomes. Those are important factors for strengthening knowledge and betting picks.
• Keep your winnings aside – No matter how small the profit, don’t include it back in your bet budget. You earned it, keep it.
• Read betting tips – There are plenty of free basketball betting tips online. Use them as a source of information to perhaps confirm a bet you are considering.
• Keep it simple – Don’t go crazy about looking at obscure markets that have long odds. Keep it simple and stick to the common markets, where public support can be insightful.
• Cash out – Don’t skip cash out opportunities for live in-play betting. Using the tool to mitigate or lock in a profit before the final buzzer can be a game changer.
• Hedging bets – Live markets give punters chances to hedge pre-match wagers. Budget and plan for this, like snapping up an in-play opportunity for underdogs if they have come firing out of the gates.

Did You Know: The NBA’s longest match-winning streak was 33 matches set by the LA Lakers in 1972.

Money Management in Basketball Betting

Basketball betting should be a safe and pleasurable pastime. But as it involves real money from your deposits, it can sometimes get a bit stressful. It is always worth having a bankroll budgeted out for your bets to help avoid running into a gambling problem.

Because we encourage responsible gambling, it’s advisable to never bet more than you can afford to lose. Don’t borrow money to bet and don’t chase losses. The latter is a tough one because, at some point, you will likely hit a losing streak as every punter does.

That’s a valuable time to instead take a break, reassess your strategy and make some tweaks to it. When you have an overall budget to bet with, start getting your money management plan in order.

The key is to break the budget into chunks to balance your betting. Sound basketball betting advice is to stick to around 1-3% of your total budget for a stake. That way, you know how much is going towards each bet and it helps to avoid the temptation of suddenly blowing three-quarters of your budget on a spur-of-the-moment wager.

Popular Basketball Teams & Players

You can find plenty of basketball action from close to home in New Zealand, and from across the globe. Here are some of the most well-known men’s and women’s tournaments.

• NBA – From the United States, it is one of the world’s leading professional basketball leagues featuring world-famous teams like the Milwaukee Bucks and the Golden State Warriors, which concludes with the dramatic NBA playoffs.
• NCAA – College basketball in North America features a lot of future NBA stars and concludes with the much-hyped March Madness.
• WNBA – The leading women’s professional basketball league.
• FIBA Basketball World Cup – The largest international competition in the sport, with both men’s and women’s competitions.
• EuroLeague – The European version of the NBA brings together the best teams Europe has to offer. Often praised for less showy but more teamwork-based games, it’s a league whose winner is just as difficult to predict as the NBA, with the teams changing rosters on a more regular basis.
• Olympic Basketball Tournament – Both men’s and women’s Olympic tournaments are very popular events, bringing together the world’s elite players for fantastic contests with the coveted gold medal for one’s country being the ultimate prize.

Summary About Basketball Betting

Whatever your favourite league or competition is, explore the best odds at our list of basketball betting sites. Basketball is one of the most-watched and most well-supported sports in the world and this Betkiwi guide has given you all the info you need to get the most out of your experience.

Now, with basketball betting explained, the most important part of basketball betting is to learn the ropes. Start from the ground up by focusing on select teams and a select range of popular markets. Keep things simple and take your time – it’s a marathon, not a sprint.

Accumulating a large amount of small profit over the long term instead of targeting one big payday, is not only a safer strategy, but one that will see you learning more about the game and how it works. Best of luck!

Further Reading

Basketball

Euroleague

NBA

FIBA

Sports Betting

New Zealand Gambling Commission

NZ Department of Internal Affairs

Problem Gambling Foundation of New Zealand

Safer Gambling Aotearoa

GambleAware