College Basketball Wagering: The Best NCAAB Betting Sites

What We Look for in an NCAAB Sportsbook

When it comes to making your college basketball picks, you want a sportsbook you can trust. We have vetted the sportsbooks listed above to ensure that they are safe, secure, and provide ample odds and action on the NCAAB.

We look for the following when we evaluate college basketball betting sites:

Depositing Real Money

Betting on sports requires capital. Whether you’re wagering $5, $50 or $500, you want to be able to fund your account using the deposit and withdrawal option of your choice. The sites we recommend allow you to use credit cards (AMEX, MasterCard, Visa), debit, e-wallets (Neteller, PayPal, Skrill), and Bitcoin.

Bonuses and Rewards

The college basketball sportsbooks on our list like to give back in the form of bonuses, sport-specific offers, and free bets. The most common reward is the Welcome Bonus which matches a certain amount of your first deposit up to a fixed amount. Basically, the site is adding to your bankroll. Be sure to read the terms and conditions since each sportsbook is different.

Customer Service

Should something go wrong, you want to get it fixed ASAP. Customer service is key when it comes to betting on sports. The NCAA basketball betting sites on our list all provide their clients with support via email, phone and live chat.

Odds and Betting Options

NCAAB betting sites will show their odds in American (-500), Fractional (1/5) or Decimal (1.20) style. You can choose how you want the odds displayed when you make your bets. At Odds Shark, we use American-style odds. Bettors in the U.K. tend to favor fractions and those in Europe and Australia are more inclined to use decimals.

At the sportsbooks we love, you’ll find the following betting types:

Moneyline: Picking a Team to Win SU

The moneyline involves you betting on a team to win straight up (SU). Odds would look something like this:

Villanova -220

Marquette +180

If you pick the Wildcats, you would need to wager $220 to win $100. If you bet on the Golden Eagles, you would need to wager $55.56 to win $100. Because Marquette is the underdog – you can tell by the plus sign (+) – you’d be making a bigger risk but would earn a bigger profit. In this scenario, Villanova is the favorite – you can tell by the minus sign (-).

To see how much you’d win based on the odds and the amount bet, check out our Odds Calculator.

Point Spread: Choosing a Team to Cover

Spread betting in college ball works the same way as it would with the NBA. You would be picking a team that you think will perform best against the spread (ATS). Odds would look something like this:

Connecticut -5.5

Tulane +5.5

In order for the Huskies to cover the spread, they would need to win the game by six points or more. For the Green Wave to cover the spread, they would need to win the game outright or lose by five points or less.

Totals: Combined Score Betting

When betting totals, you will need to determine if the total number of points scored in the game will go OVER or UNDER the oddsmaker’s set number. If the total is set at 149 for a matchup between Kentucky and Missouri and the final score is 73-69 for the Tigers, it means the combined score is 142. If you took the UNDER, you’d win your wager.

If the final score had been 149 on the nose, it’s called a PUSH. Your money would be refunded as if your bet never happened since neither the OVER nor the UNDER won.

Props: Keeping Betting Fun

Props are bets on the occurrence or non-occurrence of milestones that may not directly relate to the outcome of the game. College basketball prop bets are available during the regular season, but they rise in popularity during March Madness. You’ll see odds for things like the number of rebounds a player will get in the game, or which team will score the last basket before halftime.

Parlays and Teasers

A parlay is comprised of multiple bets on one ticket. In order to win, all selected bets must hit. If even one of those bets loses, your whole ticket is a bust. Our Parlay Calculator will show you how much you’d win on your pooled NCAA basketball wagers based on the odds.

Teasers are bets that let you adjust the spread or totals in your favor. Most sportsbooks will let you move the spread by 4 to 6 points. These wagers are similar to parlays in the sense that all bets must hit in order for your ticket to pay.

Live Betting: Wagering After the Game Starts

In-play betting lets you bet games while they’re unfolding. Instead of simply betting on the game beforehand and yelling at the TV when the team you’re backing starts to falter, you can make your money back during the game by placing a wager on the ongoing action. You’ll probably still yell at the screen, but at least you can make some coin while doing it.

Handicapping Info for NCAAB Betting

• Free Picks – Our Super Computer’s predictions for any given college b-ball game

• Futures Odds – Which squad is projected to win the championship?

• Consensus Data – Which side is the betting public heavily backing?

• Offensive and Defensive Stats

• Betting Trends – See how a team has fared in the past ATS, O/U

• Database – How a team performs historically as a favorite/underdog, on the road/at home etc.

• March Madness – The ultimate betting extravaganza for college hoops