Betting basketball is the second most popular bet behind betting on football. In a season where every team plays 82 games, there are many opportunities for bettors to find incorrect lines and use those lines to their advantage. The general betting public forces lines to be set a certain way. That line isn’t always a ‘sharp’ line. There are even more opportunities during the playoffs to profit from lines that are influenced by public betting patterns.

In the NBA, certain situations make for better bets than others. If you seek out these instances, your odds of success in basketball betting is sure to increase.

Primetime Television bodog

On certain days, there are only a few basketball games on the slate. Of those few games, there may be one or two NBA games that will be televised nationally. If this is the case, you can be sure that most of the money bet in the NBA will be bet on the nationally televised games. Look at the line. Is the home team an underdog? It is well understood that NBA players give (at best) 70% effort during the course of the season, especially early in the season. They will however give maximum effort when they know all eyes will be on them. If you find an instance where most of the attention is being paid on the prime time game and the home team is an underdog, betting that underdog may be a good bet. If you are new to NBA basketball betting, start here.

Games That Are A Pick’em

What I mean by a pick’em is the point spread is set at 0. According to the sports book, both teams are evenly matched-so much so that there is no point spread for the game. Usually when there is a ‘pick’em’ game on the card, the public will over bet one of those teams. When this occurs, bet the other side. Remember, most people who bet on basketball bet the popular teams first, regardless of the situation. NBA basketball betting should not be difficult and this is an easy situation to exploit.

The First Half

If you have ever bet an NBA game, you know that the most intense action occurs in the second half. Most of that action takes place in the last two minutes. This is an opportunity to capitalize on weak first half lines set by sports books. First, find out what the line was set for the entire game. Was it a low point spread, meaning the sports book considers the outcome to be close? Is one team obviously stronger than the other, on paper at least? This looks like a situation where the underdog (or the team that is less popular in the eyes of the betting public) is a good bet for the first half. These teams usually come out strong, only to wear out in the second half.

If you have decided that betting NBA basketball is something you are interested in, start with the above recommendations. These simple sports betting systems are a great starting point. Test these systems, and retest these systems. Find out which basketball bets suit you best and continue to learn.