March 10, 2022
College basketball’s best tournament is in full swing, and this year’s event is shaping up to be the biggest ever for sports bettors with experts predicting over $8.5 billion in wagers over the span of the tourney.
For Pennsylvania based bettors, here is a dedicated page that breaks down all the best PA betting sites. Be thorough and look though all the options as not to miss out on the best bonus offers, deposit options, and app features. The reviewed sportsbooks are all approved by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. Our top-rated PA sportsbook right now is BetMGM whose bonus offer of a risk-free first bet worth up to $1,000 is difficult to top.
Now that you know where to play, let’s get into NCAA college basketball betting 101:
If it’s your first time placing a bet on basketball, don’t worry, here are the most common types of bets you will see on offer for the famous NCAA tournament.
A point spread bet is a form of handicap wager. The handicap is displayed with a plus or a minus next to a whole number or a fraction, such as -5 or -5.5. If you make a wager on a bet of (+4.5), you are wagering that the underdog loses by less than five points.
Any losing margin higher than this means your bet is unsuccessful. This is quite a versatile betting option, as you are not just wagering on whether a team will win or lose straight up, but whether it will win or lose against the spread.
Parlay bets are a combination of single bets that are calculated as one larger bet. For example, you can make multiple selections of moneylines on numerous games, then choose to parlay them. This will calculate the combined odds of all the outcomes, then you can set your stake on this total.
The biggest advantage to this is that you can have much larger wins on smaller stakes. That said, parlay bets will only be successful if all your selections win.
Betting on moneylines is the most simple and popular way to bet. A moneyline bet is a wager on which team will win the game. If you are a newcomer to betting, this is a suitable place to start as research on which teams have performed better in the season is comparatively easy.
Moneyline odds will be displayed with a minus or plus symbol. If the odds on a team are positive (+), this means that the team is seen as the underdog and the prize money will be higher. Conversely, a negative symbol (-) indicates a favorite.
Totals wagers, commonly referred to as over/under bets, require you to predict whether the total points scored throughout an entire game will be higher or lower than the line, which is the value expected by bookmakers and experts.
For example, if the value was 100, bettors could choose Over if they think more than 100 points will be scored, or Under if they predict less will be scored. The odds are separate from the line, which will be represented by a plus (+) or minus (-) symbol.
Prop bets, or propositions, are a type of wager that are placed on the specifics of a game as opposed to the final outcome. More specifically, these are wagers related to players, teams, or match events. This can be things such as how many points one player scores or whether a particular team scores first.
The benefit of prop bets is that you can do plenty of research to help you win these bets. It’s not too difficult to research the average points scored by certain players or how a team tends to perform in different halves, and this can really aid your NCAA tournament wagers.
How does the tournament work? Here are some common questions from newcomers to the action in March:
At present, you can place bets in 19 different states with others such as Oregon close to passing a bill change in time for the tournament. You must be over the age of 21 and check you are using a licensed betting site.
Do plenty of research throughout the season and only bet with reputable sites. We recommend opening multiple accounts with the best PA betting sites so that you can easily compare odds and take advantage of all the promotions. It’s also worth entering free bracket competitions.
Blake Roberts is the senior editor of Betting.us. A West Virginia native, Blake is a huge Mountaineers fan and a professional gambler.
This content was created and sponsored by Betting.us. 21+ Please gamble responsibly.
