Difficulty: Moderately Easy
Things You’ll Need:
- Legal access to sportsbook
How to Bet on Basketball
Step1
Find a legal sportsbook. In the United States, you can legally bet on sports only in Nevada. If you are outside of the United States, there may be more options.
Step2
Understand the lines that you can bet on. In a typical basketball game, you can bet on the point spread, the total, the money line, or proposition bets.Point spreads are bets on how much a team will win or lose by. You take the point spread and add or subtract that many points from the team you are betting on.Totals are betting on the combined points scored by both teams.Money line bets are bets that are only on who will win or lose the game outright. There are no point spreads but there are odds to make the betting more even.All of these bets are often offered for both the first and second half of games, as well as the entire game.
Step3
Once you have handicapped the game and decided what you think will happen, you are ready to place your bet at the window in a sportsbook. Sportsbooks refer to games by number, not team name, so find the number of the team you would like to bet on. This is how you will place your bet.
Step4
Tell the ticket writer your bet. If you are betting just one game, you would tell the writer that you want a straight bet, then give them the team number, and how much you want to bet. If you are betting a total or money line, you say the team number, followed by "over" or "under", or "money line" and then the amount you wish to bet.
Step5
Complete the transaction. Give your money to the ticket writer and check your ticket.
Step6
If you are betting legally online, the process is mostly the same, but without the writer, obviously. Online, you click on the sport you want to bet on and follow the menus and options until you find what you want to bet on. Again, check your ticket to make sure your bet is right.
Novice 
