The Best Basketball Betting Sites
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How We Review The Best Basketball Betting Sites
We know what you must be thinking — how do you select the best NBA betting site among so many different options available? At Optimobet, we’ve got experts with decades of experience filtering the best NBA betting sites. You can take a sneak peek at our evaluation metrics based on the site’s trustworthiness, odds fairness, and betting bonuses.
We’ve got a whole list of criteria that we stick to while reviewing these sites. Here’s a brief breakdown of each:
License
One of the first indicators of the best NBA betting sites is the license held by the site. We only ever recommend NBA betting sites with reputable licenses like the UKGC license or the MGA license. Some states, like the US and Canada, have different legal requirements, which is why we pay extra attention there.
It’s crucial to find a site that operates within the legal framework of your region. Having a certificate of fairness like the International Betting Integrity license can only help.
Payment Methods
Next up, you might want to focus on payment methods. Since we know that every bettor has a preferred option, we tend to recommend sites with a diverse selection of payment methods. Think of it this way — if you can’t make an instant deposit and update your balance, you might miss a valid bet.
So, our recommended basketball betting sites feature a wide range of payment options, from credit cards and bank transfers to e-wallets like Neteller or Skrill.
Bonuses
Basketball betting bonuses make a great way for new punters to explore the odds and betting markets represented on the site. It can be challenging to decide on which site to bet on due to competitive bonus offers, so we’ll help you filter out the options.
Make sure to focus only on bonuses with clear terms and low wagering conditions. Online sports betting sites may require you to wager your bonus winnings once, but it should be more than that.
At Optimobet, we strive to consider odds fairness since you can’t use the bonuses unless you have fair and competitive odds. Last but not least, our team examines full bonus T&Cs before recommending an offer to you, including limits and max cashout.
Customer Support
Yet another significant contributing factor is customer support. You should only go with NBA betting sites that feature multi-layered help, including live chat and email. Our recommended sites also include telephone hotlines to help you get instant assistance.
Optimobet experts look for sites that have real human support and always test them by reaching out ourselves. If we can’t get an appropriate answer swiftly, we never recommend a site due to low customer service responsiveness.
Security
One often overlooked factor is the security. We always take extra care while selecting the best NBA betting sites to ensure they have prominent security methods in place. These include SSL encryption as well as data protection, and fair privacy policies.
Among these, we primarily focus on disclaimers on private data collection, cookie collection, and general safeguarding methods for player information.
How to Bet on Basketball?
To place successful wagers on online NBA betting sites or win big on other tournaments from the world of basketball, you first need to understand the bets. The list of betting options is as diverse as it gets for sports betting. We’ll help you get a grasp of the main betting markets:
Moneyline Betting
Moneyline bets are as basic as NBA betting odds get, and these reflect wagering on a team to win the game. You can pick your side and bet on the favorite to win or the underdog to win. The odds could also be pretty close if it’s a playoff game featuring teams that are ranked very close.
The important question most wagerers have here is — does overtime count for NBA moneyline bets? The answer is yes in most cases since the moneyline bet is active until a team wins the match. However, some of the best basketball betting sites will give you a choice here. You can either bet with overtime included or bet on the winner at the end of regulation.
In the latter case, you’d get slightly higher odds, keeping in mind the possibility of a draw occurring. If you ask us, you should always bet on overtime-inclusive moneyline picks. In the 2023/2024 season, the Chicago Bulls alone had 11 overtime games, so you get the idea of why it’s the best way to go.
Spread Betting
One of the most popular picks by seasoned basketball bettors is betting on spreads. These are also known as handicap bets, and you’ll get a margin. For instance, let’s say you’ve got an 11.5-point margin for the Boston Celtics to win over the Indiana Pacers. If you bet on Boston to win, that means the Cs need to beat the Pacers by more than 11 points. If they beat them by exactly 11 points, your bet is a losing one. If they beat them by 12 or more points — you win.
It can also go the other way around; you can bet on Indiana with the same margin, in which case your bet would be a bit different. Due to the Celtics being favored to win, betting on “H2” In this case, it doesn’t mean that Indiana has to win by 12 points, but rather not to lose by more than 11.5 points.
So, if the Celtics beat them by exactly 11 points or less, you’d win. Of course, there’s always an opportunity for an upset to happen in the NBA. In the case of Indiana winning, you’d win your H2 bet as well since they didn’t lose by the given margin.
Over/Under Betting
There’s a variety of different over/under bets for NBA betting and other basketball events. These are among the most common options, and a typical over/under bet would be a “total points” wager. In other words, that one reflects the total number of points scored by either teams.
If the margin is, let’s say, 211.5, that means the total of points scored needs to be 212 for you to win the “over” bet. For the “under” bet to win, it’s just important that the score doesn’t go over 211 points. You can do the same for specific teams, but that depends on their point totals.
For example, in a game of the Los Angeles Lakers against the Portland Trailblazers, the Lakers could be favored to win. Point totals on favorites are usually higher compared with the underdogs. So, in this scenario, the margin could be something like 112.5. If you bet on “over,” that means the Lakers need to score at least 113 points for your bet to be a winning one.
Parlay Bets
The multiple bet in basketball is referred to as the “parlay bet,” and you need to hit all of the individual bets for the parlay to win. For example, if you bet on Iowa to beat South Carolina and UConn to beat Purdue, you need both matches to end favorably to win the bet.
If there’s an upset and Purdue beats UConn, then your bet would be a losing one. However, not all of the NBA betting sites feature NCAA options.
The best basketball betting sites also allow you to place multiples or parlay bets on the WNBA, Euroleague basketball, NLB, and CBA. Make sure to shop around for the best option, and Optimobet-vetted sites will give you an idea of sites that offer all of these.
NBA Player Props
If you are looking for something more exotic to wager on, an NBA betting site might offer you player props. These bets reflect a single game and you can bet on any offered player from both teams. It’s quite simple — you select a player and wager on his point props, assists, rebounds, or even steals.
You can also wager on a player’s combined props. Nikola Jokic is a perfect example since NBA betting sites often set a margin of around 48.5 for player props. In other words, his points, assists, and rebounds combined need to exceed that margin for your “over” bet to win.
You can also bet on “under” bets for player props, and the key point to note here is that overtime usually counts. So, in case your player doesn’t meet the margin in regulation and yet manages to do so during overtime, you still pack a win.
NBA Futures
If you are confident about your NBA betting expertise, you can also wager on futures. These include the championship winner, conference finals winners, and player futures. Some of the most commonly found player futures include MVP predictions, Defensive Player of the Year award predictions, or even All-NBA team predictions.
If you value the freedom of choice, we will help you find betting sites that allow you to bet on custom NBA futures. For instance, you can bet on a certain team to reach the first round of the playoffs or to have an early regular season exit.
First Basket Combos
To spice things up, you can also place a wager on the first basket or similar combos. These are only offered by the best basketball betting sites with the largest selection of markets and odds. In other words, you’d be betting on points within the first minute of the game, or the first team to reach a certain margin (for example, the first team to reach 20 points).
You can also go with more risky bets that rely mostly on luck, like who wins the jump ball or total points by a team in the first quarter.
Top Basketball Betting Leagues
Now it’s about time we discussed the main options besides NBA betting that betting sites could offer on basketball games. And by that, we don’t mean betting options but rather tournaments and events you can wager on. Here’s a full list:
NBA Wagering
If you manage to find the best NBA betting sites, you’ll be hitting gold due to so many betting options being available. All of the betting markets we discussed above are available for NBA bets, and you also get the largest pool of matches to bet on.
There are 82 games of the NBA regular season and a total of 30 teams across two conferences. To make things even more interesting, we had six different league winners in the past six years.
The NBA surely gives you the most betting options out there, featuring four playoff rounds as well. Each playoff round could potentially reach seven games since they are played until one team wins four face-offs. So, there are plenty of opportunities to bet on teams, player props, and everything in between.
College Basketball Betting
If you are in a more volatile market, the NCAA features several upsets annually, and it’s almost impossible to predict the league winner. It’s always a tight race between UCLA and Kentucky, and now UConn and North Carolina threaten to get closer.
If you weren't aware, NCAA games are played with two 20-minute halves for a total of 40 minutes of playing time. While that means they align more with the FIBA model compared with the NBA, the NCAA is still in a league of its own. So, make sure to consider that when placing your bets.
WNBA Betting
If you ever run out of NBA betting options, WNBA is the closest thing featuring competitive games and all of the same betting markets. You can bet on player props on popular WNBA stars. For example, you can place a wager on a player’s point props as a young WNBA star or bet on her total three-pointers made in a game.
Before you start placing your bets, you should know that the WNBA is more similar to the European model, featuring 10-minute quarters. Plus, WNBA playoff matchups follow a best-of-five format. Teams need three victories to move forward. The NBA, in contrast, uses a best-of-seven setup. NBA squads must grab four wins to advance. This difference shapes how each league's postseason unfolds.
CBA Betting
Betting in the Chinese Basketball League has become highly popular in recent years. As much as it’s not rewarding like NBA betting, basketball betters are turning to this league in development for some NBA off-season action.
Playoff games are played on four won games, just like the NBA’s system. It’s also interesting to see team streaks that are currently ongoing. For instance, Liaoning Flying Leopards have won three consecutive titles since the 2021/22 season, while Guangdong Southern Tigers did the same three years prior.
Euroleague Betting
Players looking for a game quality similar to NBA betting can focus on Euroleague matches. The season is quite a bit shorter in Europe, with 36 rounds played by each team. Every team plays 18 matches as a host and 18 matches away, and there’s a total of eight qualifying playoff spots.
Teams ranked from 1 to 6 during regulation directly qualify for the playoffs, while teams positioned from 7th to 10th spot battle it out during the play-in tournament. Most NBA betting sites also offer Euroleague matches, but you should note that point spreads and totals are fairly lower here. The reason for this is the focus on defense and a shorter 40-minute game time. So, make sure to place your wagers accordingly.
FIBA World Cup Betting
The FIBA World Cup is yet another substitution for when NBA basketball betting sites leave you without a first-class option. The World Cup is played every four years, so that adds to the prestige of the tournament. Sometimes betting on the FIBA World Cup can even be more exciting than the Olympic games.
For instance, Germany won the last edition in 2023, while Spain did it before, and the USA team failed to qualify for the finals two times in a row now. You can take that into consideration and check the lineups, compare active NBA players in rosters, and place a winning bet at high odds on upsets.
FIBA Europe Betting
The European championship, another national tournament organized by FIBA, takes place every four years. It’s also played by FIBA rules, which means quarters are played in 10-minute periods. Some of the best NBA betting sites also follow up on this competition so that you can bet on European powerhouses like Lithuania, Greece, Serbia, and Spain.
You can also bet on FIBA Women’s EuroBasket and get a massive selection of games out of two competitions combined. Both systems feature a knockout phase after a group stage, and that’s where things get heated with elimination legs. So, betting on the knockouts live can be the best piece of advice. Optimobet team will help you find basketball betting sites with the best live odds.
Olympic Basketball Betting
We saved the best for last, and now we have finally reached Olympic Games basketball betting. Some of the best basketball betting sites provide punters with all of the combinations possible for Olympic basketball betting, including the qualifying tournaments and the main draw.
It’s also where Team USA gets serious and usually sends dream team lineups consisting of NBA All-Stars. However, the rest of the world has kept up in recent years, with France, Slovenia, Serbia, and Spain threatening to take the claim of the throne.
Olympic basketball betting gives you the lowest number of games to bet on. The group stage consists of three groups, with four teams each, and eight best-ranked teams advance to the quarter-finals. Knockout matches are performed in a single elimination leg, so there’s plenty of basketball betting thrill to experience during the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Most Popular Basketball Betting Bonuses
If you thought we’d let you advance to basketball betting sites without any info on bonuses, don’t worry — we’ve got your back. Our team works tirelessly to deliver you sites with the best basketball betting bonuses, including free bets, deposit bonuses, acca boosts, and enhanced odds.
Here’s a brief breakdown of each:
- Free Bets — Free bets are arguably the favorite option of many bettors looking to benefit from NBA betting sites. You can browse hundreds of sites giving you free bets, but we’ve selected a few hand-picked ones on our site. Free bets usually serve a twofold purpose. Either you’ll get free betting cash or a risk-free bet, in which case you bet with your own money, and the site issues a refund if it doesn’t hit.
- Enhanced Odds — Increased odds are fairly common on the best NBA betting sites as well. This promo gives you higher odds than regular ones for prominent NBA betting picks, especially during the post-season.
- Acca Boosts — Accumulator bets are even better if you pick the right NBA betting site with an acca boost bonus. What it does is increase your odds depending on the number of events on your parlay ticket. So, the more you place, the higher your boost will be.
- Deposit Bonuses — Last but not least, you might also get lucky and grab sign-up bonus offers if you pick the best NBA betting sites. These give you additional betting funds based on a deposit match bonus, so use them wisely for the benefit of your bankroll.
Basketball Betting Tips and Strategies
Basketball and NBA betting greatly depends on team form and injury reports, so you should closely follow the games to get the most out of them. Although there is no foolproof way of winning on basketball bets, these are some of the main strategies you can apply:
- Follow team form and stats — One of the most useful tips for wagering on the best NBA betting sites is to keep track of team form and stats in previous games. That way, you can see which teams are rising in form and which are trailing behind.
- Bet on live NBA games — There’s one major risk of betting on the NBA, and it’s the blowout possibility. It refers to a team leading by a large margin, usually 20+ points before the final quarter. This is where most player props fail to hit since the coaches may get the main guys out of the game. Also, the scoring could significantly drop in the final quarter. So, betting live allows you to hedge that fact and turn it in your favor.
- Use free bets and bonuses — If you pick your NBA betting site wisely, it should feature betting offers like free bets, deposit offers, and specials for particular NBA games. Basketball betting with the site’s cash is always the best way to go since you can’t lose if it’s not your money, right?
Basketball Betting Systems
Over the years, punters exploring the best NBA betting sites have come up with several NBA betting systems. Here are some of them in a nutshell if you wish to get on top of things strategically:
- Martingale — This NBA betting system implies betting on even payout odds over and over again, doubling your wager when you lose. It’s best to place a total points bet on the same team round in and round out, and that way, you are likely to eventually hit big and recoup your losses.
- Tunnel Strategy — This one is very risky but is worth your while in the long run. The tunnel system implies finding two online NBA betting sites with different betting margins. It’s somewhat like arbitrage betting. Only this time, your margin is different and not the odds. For instance, if the total points margin on a game on one B+NBA betting site is 211.5, while it’s 214.5 on the other, you can bet higher on the first one and lower on the second one. In case the points end up somewhere in between, you win both bets.
- Performance-based system — This one states that a team is likely to recover from a blowout with a decent offensive performance in the next game. It also says that teams that beat others with blowout victories usually fall behind in the next game. And these are stat-supported claims. So, you might want to consider that next time you participate in NBA betting.
History of Betting on NBA
NBA betting has been a thing for quite a while now, offering everything from player props to point spreads. However, it was a taboo in the US up until recently. In 2018, the Federal Court made a call that would forever change the landscape of NBA betting sites.
They ruled in favor of bookies outside of Nevada offering NBA betting odds. So, players have had the chance to witness some of the best NBA betting sites emerging in the US states other than Nevada in the past couple of years. Now, it’s a thing both in the US and outside of the States.
Conclusion
We have finally come to the end of our journey through NBA betting site operators and odds. Hopefully, this guide will be just what you were looking for when it comes to betting on basketball and NBA betting in particular. We covered some important points like betting bonuses, odds, and market types. The only thing left for you to do now is to head over to the best NBA betting sites and sign up!