How to bet on the NBA: A step-by-step guide to gambling on your phone

Professional basketball is one of the world’s most popular sports, with games played worldwide. The biggest teams entertain thousands of fans at the most spectacular sporting arenas while millions more watch the action live on television and the best live streaming apps.

The NBA is the world’s premier club competition, boasting the most famous teams, experienced managers, wealthy owners, and talented players. The NBA reads like a who’s who of pro basketball.

Although the NBA is an American tournament, it attracts hardcore and casual fans from every corner of the planet, including across North America, Asia, Africa, and Europe. It's unpredictable nature means it’s perfectly suited to online gambling, and millions of dollars are wagered on results each year.

Fancy getting involved and targeting a profit while cheering for your favorite teams and players?

Keep reading as Whop guides you through NBA betting, explaining how to make predictions, claim the best free bets, get the market’s highest odds, and confirm your bet using a laptop or smartphone.

In short, we have everything you need to know about NBA betting.

Prepare for the 2024/25 NBA season

If you are interested in betting on the NBA, you’ve found this article at the perfect time. The new season is here, with the 79th campaign already well underway.

The coaches have used their budget to tick off the top targets on their most-wanted list during the off-season. The players have enjoyed a break and are now approaching full fitness again. The officials prepare for another tense year, with technology playing an ever-increasing role in their decision-making.

Most importantly, NBA fans have been studying the stats, tracking the trades, and making predictions on where their team will finish this season.

Will they bomb out at the earliest opportunity or blaze a trail of glory all the way to the championship?

Whop’s betting expert Frank Monkhouse has spent a lifetime in the sports and sports betting industries. He has worked as a professional athlete, on the trading floor of a major sportsbook in London and as a content creator for some of the biggest names in the industry. He shares his experience and expertise with Whop readers ahead of the new NBA season.

Keep reading to gain all the betting information and advice you need ahead of the 2024/25 NBA season, starting with those all-important dates for your diary.

Key NBA information: dates and broadcasters

The NBA is an annual basketball competition played in the United States. It begins with a round-robin format, with teams playing rivals from their division before the best performers advance to the knockout stages. We then play elimination basketball in the playoffs before the NBA Finals takes over.

Here's how the game is played: 

NBA playoffs

• Each of the NBA’s 30 teams plays 82 games during the regular season, for a total of 1230 games.
• The playoffs consist of 16 teams made up of eight from the Western Conference and another eight from the Eastern Conference.
• Each round is a best-of-seven series, meaning the first team to win four games advances to the next stage. There’s the first round, Conference semi-finals, Conference finals, and the NBA Finals, where the two remaining teams play between four and seven games to decide this season’s champion.

Where to watch the NBA

ABC, TNT, ESPN, NBA TV, and Max are the major broadcasters showing the NBA across the United States this season. The best games are shared between the platforms that screen the game live on TV and through their live streaming app, while others show the highlights from each round of games.

Important NBA dates for your diary

• The regular season runs from October 22, 2024, to April 13, 2025.
• You can follow the various playoff games between April 19, 2025 and June, 2025.
• The NBA Finals 2025 begin on June 5, 2025, and run to a conclusion.
• Boston Celtics beat the New York Knicks 132-109 on the opening night.

NBA games are often spread across the week, with fixtures played in midweek and the weekend, making it perfect for armchair fans and online bettors.

Check your chosen sports gambling app after reading this article, and you’ll find competitive odds, interesting markets, and eye-catching promotions, including free bets and enhanced odds.

The structure of NBA games

If you are new to the sport, it’s important to understand the structure of NBA games, and if you’re already an experienced fan, it’s always worth going back over the fundamentals.

The more you know and understand how games work, the better your chances of making a profit when betting on the outcome of fixtures.

Each NBA game lasts for 48 minutes, and the games are broken into four 12-minute quarters.

There’s a half-time break of 15 minutes between the second and third quarters, while the players enjoy a short break of between two and three minutes between the other quarters.

Each team is permitted seven timeouts per game, typically lasting 60 seconds each. There are also two timeouts per quarter for television broadcasters, lasting two to three minutes each. Stoppages due to fouls, free throws, and official reviews also result in extra time.

If an NBA game ends in a draw, it enters overtime, lasting an additional five minutes.

Although there are 48 minutes of actual play in an NBA game, most matches last more than two hours due to the stoppages and added-on time.

The frequent breaks in play make the NBA perfect for live betting, allowing online gamblers to follow the play, check on the stats, and make quick wagers using their laptop or smartphone.

How to wager on the NBA

Now that we’ve reminded ourselves of how the NBA season and games work, I’ll now turn my attention to how to bet on the NBA. The best-known online gambling apps love the NBA, offering a wealth of markets, odds, and specials. 

There are two main ways to bet on the NBA. You can make predictions on the result of an upcoming game, pick the winning team on the moneyline, or play one of the exciting specials, including total points, handicaps, and first-quarter winner.

You can also predict how a team will perform this season. Known as betting on the futures market, you can gamble on a team to win the NBA Finals, make the playoffs, or predict their stage of elimination. 

Future markets represent real value for money, as you can gamble on a team to win the NBA Finals before the opening game of the season. You now have a bet lasting months where every result matters.

There’s also futures betting on players, such as naming this season’s MVP and that’s another wager that will keep you glued to the season. The earlier you wager, the better the odds will be.

Feeling confused? Check out our ultimate bettors glossary.

When betting on upcoming games or the futures markets, traders offer odds before the start of play and throughout the campaign. You can wager on the NBA Finals champion before the season begins or the match result before tip-off. Thanks to live betting odds, you can also bet during the contest, and traders update their season odds after each round of results.

Get your account ready: betting on your smartphone

The 2024/25 NBA season promises to be the most watched and most bet-on in history, thanks to improvements in live-streaming technology and changes to gambling laws across many major states.

But how do you gamble on the NBA using your Android or iOS device? I’ll explain everything you need to know.

The process is the same regardless of which game or market you’re betting on. The steps below apply to all major sportsbooks, but I will use BetUS and FanDuel as my examples.

Choose your sportsbook
The first step is almost the most important. You must choose a bookmaker that’s right for you.

Successful bookmakers offer welcome bonuses to catch your eye and convince you to join them over the competition. Deals come in many forms, including free bets, enhanced odds, cashback, profit boosts, and more. 

Find a welcome bonus that’s attractive to you and create an account to claim your share. You can only join a bookie as a new customer once, but you can register at several sportsbooks and collect the new customer promotions and free bets.

The more betting apps you join, the more bonuses you’ll collect and the greater your chances of getting the best odds available each time you gamble on the NBA. It takes minutes to create a betting account, and I’ll explain how in the next section.

Here’s a list I created of the best promotions available to online sports bettors in the US.

You should also check out this list of the best sports betting apps.

Create an account
When you’ve found the best online bookmaker for you, it’s time to register an account. Only account holders can collect the welcome bonus, deposit funds, and gamble on sports.

Visit the homepage of your chosen betting app and click on the Join, Sign Up, or Get Started button at the top right of the page. You’ll proceed to the registration form, which you should complete by adding your details, including your name, date of birth, address, email address, and phone number.

Now, it’s time to create a username and password. You’ll need this information each time you access your betting account, so it should be memorable to you, but also secure. Add the promo code and deposit $10 or more using a debit or credit card. You can now place a qualifying sportsbook wager for a $10 stake on any NBA fixture or market.

When your first wager results, the welcome bonus will soon appear in your balance. The most popular offer is a deposit-matched free bet. With this deal, the bookie will match your first wager as a free bet. For example, if you create an account, deposit $50, and gamble on the NBA, you’ll bank $50 in free bet tokens. You can then use your free bet to wager on any upcoming NBA fixtures.

When registering an account and collecting the welcome bonus free bet, it’s important to read the terms and conditions. Scanning the small print may take a few minutes, but it’ll boost your understanding of how the offer works, how you can use it to target a profit, and what’s expected of you as a registered customer. 

Verify your details
As everything with online gambling is done remotely, your bookmaker will ask you to verify your details. All sportsbooks make this request, and it could come when you create your account or make your first request to withdraw funds. Verifying your information helps protect against underage gambling, money laundering, and identity theft.

Choose your NBA betting strategy

Every online bettor who is serious about making a regular profit from gambling and securing a year-on-year win over the bookmakers requires a strong gambling strategy. There are many options available, and you must find the one that suits your style the best.

Every professional or profitable sportsbook gambler has a betting strategy, and I advise you to get one, too. Which is the best? Finding the right fit for you takes practice, and you may want to test a few options before making your final decision.

You can study the latest results, read up on the injury news, analyze past meetings, and listen to interviews from coaches, players, and pundits.

Following the stats and trends is an excellent gambling strategy, but it takes a lot of time to get it right, and that’s time I know many of my readers don’t have spare time to spend flicking through sports results.

Another solid approach is to leave the research to the professionals and follow a sports betting tipster or handicapper. They will do the heavy lifting on your behalf before returning with a researched prediction on an upcoming NBA game. All you need to do is find the right picks and trust the process. 

If you’re looking for reliable, honest, and professional NBA betting tips, I have found something that may interest you today. There’s a plethora of expert betting knowledge available today on Whop. Browse the options and find an NBA tipster that catches your eye. You can then follow their picks and bets.

I have been involved in the sports and gambling industries my entire life, competing as a child and young adult and working for major bookmakers in adulthood. In that time, I found one thing to be true - there is no guaranteed way to win in sports, and there’s no sure-fire way to beat the bookies and guarantee a profit in sports betting. But you can give yourself the best chance possible by researching, preparing, and listening to the experts.

Place your NBA bets

So, you now know how the NBA games and markets work, you have the information needed to join a sportsbook that’s legal and licensed to trade in your city, and you’re all set to grab the welcome bonus free bet offered by the top betting apps.

It’s now time to make your first online bet on the NBA.

Here’s how.

• Access your betting account with the username and password you decided on when creating your account.
• Browse the sports navigation bar, click on basketball, and then click on the NBA.
• You’ll see a long list of NBA futures betting markets and upcoming fixtures due to be played this week. Click the game you wish to bet on.
• Browse the long list of pre-match betting options, including moneyline, handicap, totals, team props, player props, spreads, correct scores, and more.
• Click the odds of your selection to add it to your bet slip. Input a stake, check all details of the bet, and confirm.
• Your wager is now live and can’t be changed. Your available balance will update automatically, and a cash-out amount will often appear on your bet slip.

Popular NBA betting markets

Bookmakers offer an ever-increasing list of pre-match and live betting markets on NBA games, but which is the best and which will boost your chances of landing a profit each time you wager on basketball?

Let's take a look at the most popular and useful NBA betting markets.

NBA moneyline

The simplest way to bet on NBA games is the moneyline option. Available at all major sportsbooks, all you’re doing here is predicting which team will win a game. As there’s no draw in the NBA, you have a one-in-two chance of landing a profit. If your team wins, you get the returns, but if your team loses, the bookie keeps your stake.

As you can see above, the Indiana Pacers are -138 favorites to beat Orlando Magic, who trade as +118 underdogs in the game. The odds mean that if you bet $100 on Indiana, you could make a $72.46 profit if the team delivers.

NBA handicap

Bookmakers offer the handicap market in all NBA games, and it’s a great way to gamble, especially if you have a strong favorite. When playing this market, your team must win and cover the handicap for you to land the profits.

Sticking with the previous image, we see Indiana start with a -2 points handicap. That means they must beat Orlando by three or more points. If they do, you get the returns promised by your bet. But if the Pacers win by less than three points or Magic wins the game, your bet is a loser, and you drop your stake.

You can also bet on the underdogs with the handicap, like Orlando +2 points. That means if Magic wins the game or loses by one point, your bet is a winner. But if Indiana wins by three or more points, your bet’s a loser.

NBA totals

Another interesting bet is the NBA totals. In the Pacers vs. Magic screenshot, traders working at FanDuel have set 226 points as their total, but they also offer other amounts, and you must find the margin that suits you most.

The 226 points is the total points scored in the game, and you can bet on the final result being more or less than that number. It’s -110 for the teams to score over 226 points combined and -110 for the teams to register under 226 points. The totals is a great way to bet and have your stake on the points, rather than relying on a team or player.

You can bet on the totals in one NBA game or add several to your bet slip to create a parlay, targeting a big win off small stakes.

NBA futures

We briefly touched on NBA futures betting earlier in this article, but it’s such a popular and exciting way to gamble on basketball I wanted to give you a more detailed explanation and example of how an NBA futures bet works.

When betting on the futures, you’re gambling on a result that may be weeks or months away, such as the winner of the NBA Finals or a team that will make the playoffs. 

If you bet on the Boston Celtics to win the NBA Championship at odds of +285 for a $100 stake, you could land a $285 profit if the Celtics live up to expectations. But if any team other than Boston wins the championship, you will lose your bet and your stake.

NBA parlay

The parlay is one of the best-loved and most popular ways to gamble on games from the NBA. With this bet, you can add several predictions to your bet slip. Unlike some other multiples, like a round robin bet, a parlay has just one stake, meaning all your picks must win for your bet to be settled for a profit.

You can add as many picks to your parlay as you wish, with more teams resulting in higher odds and a bigger potential profit. Many bettors like to stick to the moneyline market when creating an NBA parlay, but you can add any market, such as totals or handicaps.

Above is an example of an NBA parlay where we’re backing wins for Indiana, Boston, and New Orleans. If you stake $25 and all three picks win, you’ll land $451.15. But if just one leg of your parlay loses, the entire bet goes down. Parlays are exciting all-or-nothing bets.

NBA prop bets

Another interesting way to gamble in the NBA is through prop bets. But what are prop bets, and how do they work when gambling in the NBA?

Prop bets allow you to gamble on a game without picking a winning team. You can wager on the total number of points scored, how many points the home team will score, which quarter will produce the most points, the half-time/full-time market, and more. 

Above is a great example of an NBA prop bet. You can gamble on the team you think will be the first to score 20 points when the Bulls face the Knicks. It’s a straight shoot-out with the Bulls +130 underdogs and the Knicks -170 favorites. 

When making this bet, the final result doesn’t matter as long as you correctly predict which of the two teams will get to 20 points faster.

NBA player props

In addition to NBA team props, you can also gamble on player props. Here, you are betting on the performance of a single player rather than a team. You can bet on many aspects of the performance, including the number of points scored by a player, the three-pointers, rebounds, assists, and more.

Here’s an example.

Above, you can bet on Tyrese Haliburton to score at least one three-pointer in the game. If he does, you land the profits from a bet at -1600, but if he fails to net at least one three-pointer, you’ll lose your stake.

NBA spreads

The final NBA betting market I will highlight for you today is the spreads. It’s another eye-catching and unique way to gamble on a game without focusing on the matchwinner. The spreads often provide better odds than the moneyline option, ensuring they are always popular with basketball fans and NBA bettors.

The point spread is similar to the handicap, but you can move the line to suit you and get the kind of odds you’re most interested in winning. Above, we see you can back the New York Knicks to beat the Chicago Bulls by more than eight points at odds of -115. 

If you make the above bet and the game finished Knicks 108-102 Bulls, your bet would be a loser, despite your chosen team winning the game. That’s because the Knicks failed to win by enough points, leading by six at the buzzer rather than the eight required.

Get NBA betting tips and picks on Whop

We have now arrived at the end of my article on NBA betting. We covered everything, from creating an account and grabbing the welcome bonus to placing a bet and choosing the best NBA gambling markets. I hope you found my article insightful and worth reading.

I have one final piece of advice for you ahead of your next NBA bet.

You now know where to bet and how to bet, but the aim now is to make winning picks, and Whop can help you with that. Get sports picks, reliable information on NBA betting markets, stats, predictions, and more, all in one place.

The sports picks communities at Whop are run by professional gamblers and sports betting experts. They cover all major sports and competitions, including the NBA.

You can join today and start receiving NBA predictions in plenty of time for the next round of fixtures.