Even if yours is just a basic knowledge of how basketball works on and off the court, NBA betting can be a thrilling way to spice up the competition. If you’ve never tried NBA betting at Bodog Casino before, you might think you can only bet on the winner. While it’s true that the winner, or the moneyline, is the most popular bet, there’s a laundry list of bets that transcend the win/lose binary and give all facets of the game new significance.
Whether you’re trying to make a buck from the Bucks in the regular season, or you’ve got your sights set ahead on the NBA finals, Bodog Casino boasts all of the NBA betting options for you to line up for a three-pointer.
Let’s settle in and see what your next bet on the NBA will be.
NBA Betting Explained
For all the variety of betting available on the NBA, there are three types of bets that really take the cake for popularity. Let’s cover those first.
Moneyline
The moneyline is at the core of it all, and you may have already placed a bet on this before you even knew what it was called. This is a bet on who the winner of a game will be, straight up. If you were right, you get paid on the posted odds. Super easy stuff.
Point Spread
This point spread is slightly more involved, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll see why NBA fans love it so much.
For a bet on the point spread, you’ll need to grasp the following: the underdogs start the game off with positive (+) points, and the favourites have negative points (-). In order for a team to win on spread betting, they have to cover that number of points. Basically, you just add or subtract that number from the final score, and if your team is on top at that point, they won against the spread.
Totals
This is another back-to-basics bet type. Totals are also called over/under bets. The sportsbook makes a prediction on the final score of both teams, added together. So let’s say the final score is 105-98, the score according to a totals bet would be 203 (105+98). Then, you predict whether you think the final combined score will be over that number or under it. If you’re right, you win. It’s child’s play, but with real cash.
NBA Prop Betting
Next in line for the most popular type of betting on the NBA is with prop betting. While the other bets listed above focus heavily on the outcome of the actual game, props are more like side bets that are settled separately.
If you’re betting on game props, you would be considering options like the following:
– Will the total final points be an odd or even number?
– Will the game go into overtime?
– How many points will the Spurs win by?
– Which team will be first to reach 20 points?
Other types of NBA props betting are called player props, and just as you’d imagine, they centre around the performance of the players. Here are some typical player props for the NBA:
– Will Stephen Curry record a double-double?
– Will Jimmy Butler score over or under 17.5 points?
– Will Bojan Bogdanovic make over or under 2.5 three-point shots?
You could even get downright specific with multivariable props (usually with a higher payout):
– Will Jaysun Tatum score 20+ points and will the Celtics win?
– Will Stephen Curry and Royce O’Neil each have 7+ rebounds?
The key concept to remember with NBA props betting is that the outcome of the actual game doesn’t affect whether you win your bet (unless it was included in the prop!), which allows plenty of headroom to entertain all sorts of events that you could be making money on!
NBA Parlay Betting
So what happens when you’re in the swing of the regular season, and through your sharp observations you’ve developed a fresh confidence in placing multiple winning bets? You could wrap them all up and tie a ribbon around the package, turning your bet slips into a single wager known as a parlay!
An NBA parlay bet means you layer up two or more bets, usually pertaining to different games, onto one big bet slip. As you add more bets, your payout odds will increase. But here’s the catch: every single bet, or leg, on your parlay slip has to win in order for you to win your parlay. If just one bet falls through, the entire ticket is a loss, making it a bad option for the faint-hearted.
Here’s an example of what a two-team parlay would look like:
Leg #1: Brooklyn @ Milwaukee
Milwaukee moneyline: -120
Leg #2: Los Angeles @ Golden State
Golden State moneyline: +140
Parlay payout odds: +340
If the Bucks win their game outright and so do the Warriors, you get paid at +340 odds. If only the Warriors win but the Bucks lose, the entire ticket is considered a loss.
Parlay bets certainly carry their own share of risk, but they can be a great choice for when you want to make a smaller wager upfront for a much bigger profit.
NBA Betting at Bodog
Here at Bodog Casino, we’ve proudly been the most trusted sportsbook in all of Canada since we burst onto the scene at the tail end of the ‘90s. We have the most competitive odds on the market, and we post them fresh and early to keep you moving ahead of the game.
We also consider it a basic customer service standard to provide you with ample information on sports betting, like comprehensive guides and handy how-tos. Our platform is extremely user-friendly on both PC and mobile, and your privacy is completely secured using Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption.
Best of all, Bodog Casino offers hoards of special bonuses that you can use for sports betting, including betting on the NBA.
Whether it’s your first time filling out a bet slip or you’ve returned for your usual wager this season, you can always be sure that Bodog has you covered with the best odds in the NBA sportsbook!