The best basketball betting sites immerse you in the excitement of the game and allow you to wager real money on its outcome, all in a safe and secure environment. If you are unfamiliar with basketball betting, you can quickly understand everything you need to know with just a little help. Read on to discover everything you need to know about betting on one of the world's most popular sports.

Choosing the Best Basketball Sites
Before you start making your bets and picking the team or player you think will come out on top, you have to make a much more important decision. You have to choose the basketball betting sites you will use. Choose poorly and the consequences could be disastrous. So, think it over.
When you bet on basketball in an online format, you are essentially putting both your money and your private information on the line. You are relying on the site to keep everything secure and to deliver a fair outcome in return for your wager. But what if the site doesn't have your best interests at heart? The results could be disastrous. Luckily for you, we've done the work for you, researched a whole range of online basketball betting sites and selected a group of trustworthy ones that should not only deliver on their promises of fairness and security, but also deliver fun outcomes in line with what you might expect in terms of entertaining basketball betting. Here they are for 2025.
What makes these sites stand out from the many other options available? They all have unique features that can be especially helpful when betting on basketball. Other sites we've reviewed don't have these features at all, or if they do, they don't display them with the same level of intensity as the very best basketball betting sites. Choose your favorites wisely.
What are these attributes? These are the elements of a website that really enhance your experience when betting on basketball:
- Basketball betting bonuses
- You want your gambling dollar to go as far as it can when you're betting on basketball games. Specific basketball betting bonuses can help achieve this like no other method. All of the sites we have listed above offer impressive and often very lucrative basketball betting bonuses. These include free bets, odds boosts, and sometimes cash added to your deposit
- multiple basketball betting markets
- the most skilled basketball bettors approach the sport and its contests from a variety of different angles, pinpointing the most favorable values in the process. You can't do that if the platform you're using doesn't give you those kinds of options. More options also means more potential ways to win;
These attributes are directly related to betting on basketball over the internet. However, the best online sportsbooks to place a bet on a basketball game should also offer you a reliable platform that makes betting easy and fun for you. In addition, the sportsbooks should also provide you with the following:
- Banking Versatility
- There should be multiple ways for you to deposit and withdraw your money with ease. Among these ways should be options that allow you to use cryptocurrency, as paying and being paid with digital coins is as convenient as it gets for an online gambling operation. The overall convenience and cost-effectiveness of the process is just that much better when you use the method of your choice. fast payouts
- experiencing victory in a huge basketball bet and having to wait an eternity to collect your winnings should not be what an online betting site puts you through. The top sites in the business make this an unsatisfactory and non-existent experience for their customers by paying out quickly and without hassle. If you've just won a huge amount of money, you should see it in your hands (or more likely in your bank account these days) almost as fast as you can comprehend what you've done
- Mobile Betting Capability;
More on the Best Basketball Betting Sites
Find out a little more about the basketball betting sites that not only stand out from the rest, but may also pique your interest the most. This is what you need to know.
BetUS
- Do they allow cryptocurrency deposits and withdrawals? Yes
- What is their welcome bonus? 125% up to $1,000
- When did they originate? 1994
- Are US gamblers able to gamble at the site? Yes
You have to believe when a site has been doing this for as long as Bovada has. It's nothing but consistency. Among informed basketball bettors, BetUS has an excellent reputation in the industry. The bonuses they offer are impressive and their application is easy to use.
BetOnline
- Do they allow cryptocurrency deposits and withdrawals? Yes
- What is their welcome bonus? 50% up to $1,000
- When did they originate? 2000
- Are US gamblers able to gamble at the site? Yes
This site has risen to the top as one of the most trustworthy in the business. Their payouts are consistently among the fastest of any basketball betting site. You'll also love the live basketball betting options that BetOnline offers.
SportsBetting.ag
- Do they allow cryptocurrency deposits and withdrawals? Yes
- What is their welcome bonus? 50% up to $1,000
- When did they originate: 2003
- Are US gamblers able to gamble at the site? Yes
No other site offers as many options for withdrawals and refunds as SportsBetting.com. They go much deeper into their cryptocurrency options than most sites, and they also provide you with plenty of conventional payment methods. SportsBetting.ag also gives you a huge selection of basketball betting markets to choose from.
Bovada
- Do they allow cryptocurrency deposits and withdrawals? Yes
- What is their welcome bonus? 50% up to $500
- When did they originate? 2011
- Are US gamblers able to gamble at the site? Yes
Even though they have only been around for a little over a decade, Bovada has earned an excellent reputation among basketball bettors. The people behind the site do a fantastic job of making sure their customers are treated well, with excellent bonuses that boost their bottom line. And the peace of mind that comes from knowing that you have reliable customer service is, to say the least, a great thing.
MyBookie
- Do they allow cryptocurrency deposits and withdrawals? Yes
- What is their welcome bonus? 100% up to $1,000
- When did they originate? 2014
- Are US gamblers able to gamble at the site? Yes
The site's name is a tribute to the neighborhood bookies that used to handle sports betting before the online betting sites we know today. It's fitting because this site feels less like an online betting factory and more like your personal service for betting on the NBA. And that's really the vibe that MyBookie has. It achieves a cozy atmosphere through fair odds and g a m e r t e r s like y o u ' r e g e t t i n g m o n e y a n d o p p o r t u n i t i e s .
How to Bet on Basketball Games
You may consider yourself a basketball enthusiast, but you may be unfamiliar with betting on the game. Fortunately, understanding the odds and the types of bets you can place is a simple task that doesn't require much effort. Learning these basics will make you comfortable enough to bet on a basketball game with confidence.
Basketball Betting Odds
Familiarizing yourself with the system of odds that is used for almost every bet is a good place to start when betting on basketball. This system is called the money line. It essentially tells you how much money you will win on each bet, based on how much you bet.

The money line is set by the oddsmakers at the basketball betting sites. They want to keep the total amount of money bet on each pick roughly equal. If they have that balance, they know they are safe. But what happens if they don't have that balance? What happens when the amount of money bet on one side is much more than the amount of money bet on the other side? And how do the oddsmakers keep that balance?
- To win $100, you must wager the amount indicated by the minus sign in front of the moneyline number. A plus sign in front of the moneyline number indicates that you must wager $100 to win that amount. Conversely, a number without a plus sign means that you must risk that amount to win $100;
If you want to make it even simpler, just divide the moneyline number by 100. These are your odds based on a single dollar. Of course, you can also just multiply these results by two and subtract the larger total from the smaller total to find out what the winning team actually won.
- Team A: -150;
- Team B: +125;
If you separate these numbers into hundreds, you get -1.5 and +1.25. For Team A, this means that if you bet $1, you can expect a return of $1.50. And for Team B, if you bet on them, you can expect to receive $1.25 for every dollar you bet.
Using this little mathematical idea will quickly get you up to speed with understanding the moneyline. Now we can turn our attention to the different types of basketball bets available at the leading online sportsbooks.
Types of Basketball Bets
Basketball betting can take a variety of forms. You will find that the best basketball betting sites offer you a wide range of potential "markets" with which to get in on the action. Here are some of the most popular.
Win Bets
When it comes to betting on basketball, this is as simple as it gets. You pick the winner of a game between two teams. In most cases, the favorite has a minus number on the money line, while the underdog has a plus number, meaning it's more lucrative (but generally riskier) to bet on the underdog.
Point Spread Bets
At the best basketball betting sites, oddsmakers use point spreads to make what they perceive to be the better team and the worse team more even. Think of it as giving a not-so-great team a slight edge. Most point spread bets have moneylines close to even (around +100) on both sides, meaning that if you randomly picked one side to win, you would almost certainly win the bet.
Here is an example of what a point spread in basketball might look like:
- Squad A: -3.5 (110)
- Squad B: +3.5 (110);
Possible outcomes to our example and how the point spread bet would play out:
In the example above, the money line is -110 on each side. Regardless of which way you choose to bet, you will win $1 for every $1.10 you wager.
Over/Under Bets
In an over/under bet, you don't pick one team to win or lose. Instead, you try to predict the total score of the two teams at the end of the game. You then compare that number to the over/under line set by the basketball betting site you're using.
For example, look at this sample over/under:
Futures Bets
A futures bet is placed long before the outcome is known. This means that you get odds that are potentially much more profitable than if you bet just before the outcome is known. You can place a futures bet to speculate on the outcome of a single game or even go long on an entire season.
A basic basketball futures bet might be picking the league champion. If you wait until the top two teams meet in a winner-take-all game or series, for example, your odds will be very close to 50/50, and therefore the return on your bet will be modest. But if you bet on a team to win its league at the start of the season, you could be looking at much better prices on that bet, because all sorts of things-injuries, trades, and a player's improvement or decline-could happen over the course of a long season and make your preseason pick look silly. Or, conversely, make it look smart.
Prop Bets
Defining prop bets is difficult because they can't be pinned down to just one type of bet. Simply put, if you can tell what's going to happen at any given moment in a game, can you bet on it in advance? If the answer is yes, it's a prop bet. And if the answer is no, then it's some other type of bet, possibly a straight bet or some kind of over-under. Again, in simple terms.
- Which player will take home the MVP trophy for the basketball league
- who will score the most points in a game
- will a certain player record more than 10 rebounds in a game?
Many bettors enjoy proposition betting due to the fact that you can find a veritable cornucopia of choices at the leading online basketball betting sites. And we do mean choices; these quantities can run into the hundreds and cover a wide range of topics. Not only does this allow the bettor to rigorously examine potential outcomes with the goal of avoiding poor decisions, but it also gives the impression that the house is quite generous.
Live Betting
Betting in real time during a sporting event allows you to place bets on the outcome of a game, the point spread, which team will score next, or any other in-game prop bet. As you do this, the sportsbook's oddsmakers adjust the lines based on what they see happening in the game.
Real time basketball betting has exploded in popularity over the past few years. If you're familiar with the betting arena, it's a lot like being a day trader in the stock market. You have to make instant decisions based on what's happening, and you may be making a lot of bets in a single game. All of this adds up to the opportunity to win big. So how do you do live basketball betting?
Information You Need to Bet on Basketball
When you bet online at the leading basketball betting sites, you must come ready with this information:
- On which basketball game or event do you want to place a bet?
- What bet do you wish to place;
- Your selection within the bet (for instance, choosing one team to comply with the point spread);
- What amount of money do you wish to wager?
After you've entered all of this information, the basketball betting site you're using will provide you with a digital betting slip. You'll need to check all the information to make sure it's correct, then you'll have the opportunity to make the bet official by confirming it.
Betting on Basketball Online Vs. In-Person
In person, it's now easier than ever to place a bet on a game, thanks to a number of new local ordinances around the world that have legalized sports gambling. Here in the United States, you can find a brick-and-mortar sports book to take your basketball bets at any one of these locations (depending on which part of the country you happen to be in):
- Sports stadiums;
- Racing tracks;
- Gambling establishments;
- Pubs and restaurants;
- Individual locations where people can place bets on sports;
Yet we generally feel that betting on basketball online is the more advantageous scenario for a number of reasons:
- A betting site may not be local to you, but it can still feel like it. You can take a moment and log into your account to place a wager, and with wagering requirements, you may not need to be present for the payout. However, you may have to go to a location to cash in
- countless people detest the fact that other people are watching their personal bets on events like basketball. These same people crave privacy when it comes to all aspects of their basketball betting. However, when these same people bet online, they can make their basketball bets in the comfort of their own homes with complete and total privacy. When you wager online, the bonuses you receive are usually much better than anything you could receive from a brick and mortar casino. This is simply because the best online sportsbooks are betting sites that need to attract and retain customers, and the best way to do that is to offer the "welcome" or sign up bonus that you see prominently advertised on these sites.
- Betting on basketball online is very straightforward and easy to do. All you need is a computer turned on and you're ready to go! Some betting sites even offer a mobile betting option, so if you're not tied to your computer, you can still place bets using a portable device. Overall, betting on live sports is usually much better when done online than in person at a brick and mortar sports book. The main reason for this is that it's just hard to focus on all the little important details you need to concentrate on when placing a bet during a game when there are dozens of other people around you. Betting online allows for total concentration on the game (and the bet) because you can do it from anywhere. You can be in your own home, which is a far better environment for live betting;
How Many Basketball Leagues Are There?

You may not realize how many basketball leagues there are, because you probably focus on the ones close to home, like the NBA, which is so popular with US gamblers. But there are professional versions of our game all over the world. And with them, as in the case of the aforementioned league in DC, comes the opportunity to bet.
However, a handful of basketball leagues and formats stand out from the rest. These are some of the most prominent, the ones you can expect to see betting on with regularity at the best basketball betting sites.
- NBA
- The National Basketball Association, based in the United States, is the pinnacle of the global basketball hierarchy. Players from all over the world compete to be the best they can be in this league. For this reason, sites dedicated to NBA betting are almost a dime a dozen, with a site for such purposes needed in the summer months barely a week after the last Finals game was played. NCAA
- The NCAA governs college basketball in the United States. They control the men's and women's tournaments that determine which teams are the best in the country. These tournaments are known as March Madness because they take place in March and feature many of the most important games of the year. The NCAA men's basketball tournament has over 60 teams
- EuroLeague;
Basketball Betting Strategy
If you are going to bet on basketball, you should go in with some sort of plan. We suggest starting with the bets themselves, keeping them small, and using trial and error until you find a system that works for you. Once you find a strategy that you can call your own and that helps you make your picks, try to use it consistently, even if you hit a little slump.
Here are some of the ways that you can strategize for your basketball bets;
- Find the bets that give you the most bang for your buck. If funding your gambling habit isn't something you have to do at a cost that's going to hurt your finances, then you're in a kind of scenario that's pretty nice for the betting world. You can then put some money down on things like the line, totaling up what's going to happen, even betting on which player is going to end up being the most valuable. When it comes to basketball, these are the kinds of ways you can throw down some action
- Try to find places where there are mismatches between two teams. For example, one team might excel at knocking down three-pointers, while the opposing team seems completely helpless against the 3. Finding these types of inequalities between teams can be a big help in indexing which team has the better chance of winning. A team's lineup can be thrown into disarray by injuries or players missing for other reasons. This means that when deciding between two teams, you shouldn't just look at their current win-loss records and pick the one that looks better
- having the home court can be a huge advantage. When it comes to assessing the advantages of actually being on a basketball court (as opposed to just being on any old basketball court), it can be worthwhile to think about the work that goes into scouting and analyzing the very specific factors that go into what makes a particular home court special (in a good or bad way)
- because being at home on the court can matter a lot for any college basketball team in any game, the authors of this site believe it can also matter a lot to any bettor trying to win on the game;
FAQ
Is It Legal to Bet on Basketball?
Regulations regarding Internet basketball betting vary from place to place. But if you use one of our recommended sites, all of which are well-established, licensed and basketball betting friendly, you will be safe from any jurisdictional issues. The sites we highlight are as honest as it gets in the betting world, and they won't take your bets unless your local law allows you to wager.
What Kinds of Bonuses Can I Get at Online Basketball Betting Sites?
The most common form of bonus is known as a deposit bonus, where the site will add money to your account based on how much you deposit. Free betting means that you can place a bet and not worry about it being a lost financial investment. You may also be able to find odds boosts. With these, you can increase the odds around the point spread or over/under line. Boosted odds can make a winning bet more likely.
What If I Want to Bet on a Game But It Has Already Begun?
Placing a bet on basketball can also mean placing a live bet. With a live bet, you can bet during the game and up to almost any point during the game. At the same time, the oddsmakers at your chosen basketball betting site are placing new bets and changing the odds based on what they see happening in the game.
What Is a Basketball Betting Rollover?
In basketball betting, bonuses often come with a requirement known as a "rollover". To explain the term in simple terms, if you receive a $100 bonus, you must wager (not win, just bet) $100 on top of the original bonus amount before you can withdraw your bonus. Why rollovers? Rollovers ensure that the money you receive as a bonus is put to play and not just pocketed.
What Basketball Bets Bring Back the Highest Profits?
It all depends on the type of odds you get from the basketball betting web platforms. But in a broad sense, the futures and props present you with the best opportunity to amass a significant sum of money with minimal risk involved. These bets usually have more than two possible outcomes. And as the number of outcomes increases, the odds get smaller and thus potentially more profitable for each individual outcome you choose.