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How to Make Money Betting on the NBA | Real Examples
AP Photos
Anybody that tells you that making a profit sports betting is easy is, unfortunately, a liar. Because of the juice/vig that sportsbook charge on odds, making a profit betting on sports is only possible if you have some sort of edge back over the sportsbooks.
Generally, because of the aforementioned vig, sportsbooks have the edge over sports bettors, so gaining the edge back over them is invaluable if you want to make money betting on sports. Luckily, I have a solution for you and a real life NBA betting example to detail the exact process.
This process is called line shopping.
How to Make Money Betting on the NBA
Line shopping is actually an easy concept to understand, all it means is that you are “shopping” across every sportsbook in an attempt to find the best odds, or best lines.
Take this screenshot above for example. This is a totals market in an NBA game between the Pelicans and the Jazz. As you can see, this screenshot shows us that sportsbooks are pricing this total from 232.5, all the way up to 234.
As the red circle shows you, that over 232.5 number sticks out like a sore thumb. Every other sportsbook thinks that this NBA total should be priced above this number, all the way up to an entire 1.5 points higher.
Overall, these lines end up being pretty accurate over the course of time. So, based on information from the sportsbooks, it is likely that this total lands exactly at 233. If that happens, our bet of over 232.5 is the only bet that would hit, while every other bet would either push or lose.
This is also an example of a positive expected value bet. The far right sportsbook is pulled from Pinnacle, also known as the sharpest sportsbook in the world. On average, Pinnacle is the best sportsbook at pricing odds.
Not only does Pinnacle price this total at 234, but they also favor the total going over this number. Remember, we got this total all the way down at 232.5
So, the way to make money betting on the NBA? You need to make sure that you are constantly searching for the best lines and taking advantages of discrepancies such as this NBA totals bet.