NBA sportsbooks

The NBA is a real sports betting gem. There is nothing else quiet like it.

The length of the season, the heavy schedule and high points turnover make it an incredibly exciting sport to bet on.

The NBA is currently on a par with the MLB in the US in terms of popularity, but when it comes to betting it has more of a global reach.

The most common form of betting on basketball is a spread, as the point system is a perfect match with the nature of the sport.

We have listed all the popular forms of NBA betting below.

Betting on the NBA in NJ is huge. In the first year of legalised online sports betting, the state received an incredible $823,596,443 in wagers.

This means that NJ based sportsbooks have placed a large emphasis on NBA betting, so you have a wide selection of choices.

Our top picks are:

• Draftkings
• Fanduel
• SugarHouse

DraftKings and FanDuel established themselves in the fantasy sports world before moving into online sports betting when it was legalised in 2018. They set up shop in NJ very early on, and are a top choice for anyone based in the state.

Sugarhouse began as a brick and mortar sportsbook and casino in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania before moving online and expanding into NJ in 2018.

It might seem strange to look for a sportsbook with the best spread betting instead of the best moneylines. Of course, moneylines remain one of the most popular forms of betting when it comes to the NBA, however you can usually find a much better value in spread betting.

We have already explained why that's the case; the high points turnover. But it's also that you usually get a strong favorite in NBA game, which means that moneylines - backing a winner - are not as relevant.

Compared to other sports, a lot of points are scored in Basketball. Add to this the fact that the NBA scoring is at an all-time high - currently, 113.4 points per game - and you can start to understand why sportsbooks and punters alike favour a betting spread.

The spread will reduce the differences between the favourites and the underdogs by giving them a points handicap or points head-start.

The handicap is written as a number preceded by a minus symbol (-), which indicates the favourite and a plus symbol (+) which indicates the underdog.

This is the simplest type of sports bet and is thus popular amongst fans of the NBA. However, moneyline betting and the NBA are not a perfect match.

The reason for this is that in Basketball, more than other sports you will get powerhouses playing much smaller teams, creating an imbalance which makes it less exciting, or valuable to place a moneyline bet. Take soccer as an example, which is much lower scoring, and were the favourites are less expected to win, in general, than in the NBA. This makes soccer much more suited to moneyline betting than basketball.

With this type of NBA bet you’ll be placing a wager on how many total points there will be in a match. It will not matter who wins the match. These type of bets are also known as ‘totals’.

The sportsbook will set a predetermined points benchmark and offer you odds either side of this points total. As expected for such a high scoring sport, you’ll see some pretty big over/under numbers.

This type of sports bet remains relatively unique in the world of sports betting. As an NBA game is broken down into 12 minute quarters, sportsbooks offer you a ‘meta’ bet, where you can treat a quarter as a single match.

This can work well if you feel a team plays or will adapt their play to start with high intensity and gain an early lead, or vice versa.

A 1st half line follows the same concept but only applies to the second half of an NBA game. This type of bet treats the last 24 minutes as its own game. The first half in this instance is only relevant as a tool by which you, as a punter, can predict the second half and to help the sportsbook set their juice.

This type of bet is a combination of bets, which in turn lengthens the odds and increases the payout.

You can generate a large amount of money if you win a parlay, but it is important to remember that with each bet you add, you increase the risk of losing, as it only takes one loss, for you to lose your whole parlay.

Usually, we would not recommend using a parlay as you often can find a better value in placing single bets. However as long as you don’t combine too many bets, we actually like using this betting form when it comes to NBA betting. Compared to other sports, basketball games are pretty short, with lots of points which means it can make some sense to combine a few of your bets.

NBA teaser bets, like parlay bets, are an amalgamation of parlay bets and a spread bets in that you combine bets into one and then receive an adjusted handicap in your favour. This means that you will not get as big a return as a parlay. We like to think of it as a ‘Parlay lite’.

This betting form is easier to understand when you look at an example:

If you bet using your smartphone in the USA, then a good sportsbook app can be of huge benefit. Currently, all reputable sportsbooks have a website that is optimized for mobile use. However, fiddling around on your browser is less than ideal.

A lot of sportsbooks now offer apps where you can bet on the NBA.

It is a factor which we take into consideration when evaluating which sportsbooks are the best for USA customers. The USA is still lagging behind Europe in terms of online betting, so there are fewer apps available stateside than across the pond.

Even so, not all betting sites in Europe have apps. This is mainly down to restrictions placed on them by Google Play or Apple’s App Store.

To download betting apps, you are often required to change your security settings to allow unrecognized apps, which can frighten some customers or they simply can’t find the app when searching for it.

This, in turn, has led some betting sites to not develop an app.

Live betting or quarter or halftime betting are popular forms of bet form when it comes to the NBA. These only leave you with a limited amount of time with which to place your bet which means an app you are familiar can prove very useful.

Online in-play sports betting sprung onto the scene a few years ago as internet speeds got faster and betting sites looked at new ways to attract punters.

The NBA with its short games, split into four quarters is perfectly designed for quick live bets. But live betting has some requirements that other forms of betting don’t.

• A fast internet connection
• A sportsbook that can load pages quickly
• A user-friendly site that you can navigate with limited time.

There are some additional features that a sportsbook can offer which can vastly improve your experience when betting on the NBA.

• Live infographics which provide you with all the current information. Sometimes streams or TV coverage can lag.

• A live stream. There is currently no streaming from a betting site for NBA matches. You can stream the NBA using some betting sites based in Europe. This may be something that will appear in the future when the sports betting industry is more established in the USA.

Yes. The NBA was ahead of the NFL in signing a betting partnership after the Supreme Court ruling in 2018. They struck a deal with playMGM, the same company that partners with the MLB, NHL and MLS.

The NBA originally tried to play hardball with the states demanding an ‘integrity fee’ of 1% for each bet placed on the NBA, but they have since relaxed their view. They have now focused on the opportunities in fan engagement and increased coverage over gaining a financial cut from betting. The goodwill this optimism has garnered so far has meant that the NBA has not stood in the way of the relaxation of betting legislation.