What Does 'Spread' Mean In NBA Betting?

‘Spread’ is a confusing concept in sports betting, and means completely different things depending on what you’re talking about. You could be forgiven for assuming that the term ‘spread’ or ‘point spread’ in American sports is related to British spread betting, but that’s not actually the case.

In fact, spreads in NBA betting (or in NFL betting) are much more similar to what we think of as handicap betting than to what’s known as spread betting in the UK.

The spread, or point spread, is the point handicap given to the favourite in a particular basketball match. This amount can vary significantly depending on the match in question, and aims to even up the odds between the two teams.

In this article, we’ll explore exactly how spreads work in NBA (National Basketball Association) betting, how they’re different from British spread betting, whether they’re useful for Matched Betting, and what the point of them is in the first place.

What Does ‘Spread’ Mean In American Sports Betting?

The first thing you need to ensure when you start to investigate spreads in American sports is that you’re actually looking at the right set of information.

If you’re based in the UK, the chances are that the first results you’ll find relate to British spread betting, which works completely differently - and there are far fewer British sources of information about American spreads.

What’s the difference between point spread and UK spread betting?

So, first things first. Spread betting in the UK is a very different form of betting to fixed odds betting - it’s a type of bet where your winnings (or losses) are based on the accuracy of your wager.

For each market, a bookie will offer a particular ‘spread’ - a prediction of what the outcome will be. That market will usually be for a certain statistic within a match, for example Total Goals.

The customer then bets on whether the outcome will be higher or lower than the spread - they ‘buy’, if they think it will be higher, and ‘sell’ if they think it will be lower. Their winnings or losses depend on the accuracy of that bet.

For example, for the Total Goals market, you might see a spread of 2.8-3. If we think the total number of goals in the match will be higher than 3, we would buy, whereas if we expect it to fall below 2.8 we would sell.

On the basis of a £10 stake, we would have the following possible outcomes:

And with an even higher number of goals, we'd have correspondingly higher profits - or losses.

This doesn’t have much in common at all with an American point spread - but the good news is that American spreads are actually much easier to get your head around!

Point spread in basketball betting

When it comes to American sports, a spread is essentially a handicap assigned to a certain game, and your wager is on the points margin between the two teams (hence the term ‘point spread’).

The favourite will have to win by more than the number of points in the spread for your bet to pay out, or alternatively the underdog must lose by less than that number of points (or win the game altogether).

This evens up the teams somewhat, especially in cases with a significant disparity in expected performance.

Betting on the spread is one of the most popular forms of basketball betting; as you can see below, for this British bookie it’s the first market listed when betting on a particular game.

How A Point Spread Works

To illustrate this, we’ll take a look at an upcoming NBA game between the Boston Celtics and the Toronto Raptors. As you can see, for a straightforward bet on the match winner (or a moneyline bet, as Americans would call it) the Celtics are the favourites by a huge margin:

As a result, for most people there’s not a lot of point in betting on either team. Your returns on a Celtics bet would be so small as to be barely worthwhile, and, although the returns on a Raptors bet would be excellent, the chances of them winning are negligible.

A point spread resolves this problem, evening up the odds between the teams. For example, if we give the Raptors a 16.5 point advantage, the odds become almost even, making it much more worth your while to bet on either team.

If you bet on the Celtics, then, they’d have to win by at least 16.5 points for your bet to pay out. Conversely, if you bet on the Raptors they’d have to lose by no more than 16.5 points for you to see a payout.

What’s the difference between this and handicap betting?

In essence, there isn't one! The point spread is also known as a handicap, and indeed is often referred to as such by UK bookies offering markets on American basketball (and other American sports).

Does NBA Spread Betting Work Differently In The UK?

Not really! Many UK bookies avoid referring to a spread or point spread because of the risk of confusion with spread betting. But the mechanics of the point spread still work the same.

One small difference you may see is that British bookies will stick to high level basketball, as the level of interest in lower league games is pretty low. In the US, however, you’ll also be able to bet on lower leagues and college basketball.

This isn’t significantly different in most respects, but in lower leagues, and even more so with college basketball, the discrepancies between teams can be much larger, which can result in some very one-sided games. This means that the available point spreads may also be correspondingly larger.

In most respects though, all you need to know is that you may need to look for ‘handicap’ markets rather than ‘spread’ markets with British bookies.

What’s The Point Of The Point Spread?

As with any other type of handicap bet, it’s beneficial both to the bookie and to the bettor to even up the odds between especially mismatched competitors.

For the bettor, it gives them a reasonable chance of winning their bet, and a reasonable profit if they’re successful. For the bookie, meanwhile, this means they’re likely to attract more bettors, which is always a good thing from their point of view.

Because of the way bookies set their odds, the bookie won’t much care either way which team ends up winning, handicapped or not - their main concern is to draw in as many customers as possible, and to even out their betting volume on either side of a game.

Point spreads make this much easier to achieve, so it’s a no-brainer for bookies to offer spread markets (and this is also why handicap markets are so popular on other sports as well).

Can You Bet On Spreads On Other Sports?

You can! It’s predominantly American football and basketball that are the focus for point spread markets, but they’re usually available for pretty much any sport through American bookies.

In the UK, it isn’t called a spread for non-American sports, but you’ll still have the equivalent available in the form of a handicap for the vast majority of sports. British bookies will often offer both Asian and European handicap markets (the main difference being that European handicap allows for a draw), which allow you to achieve the same result as with a point spread bet.

Can Matched Bettors Make Use Of Point Spreads?

If you’re making money from Matched Betting, you’re always on the lookout for an opportunity to take advantage of a certain type of betting - and rightly so! But is a market as niche as the point spread something you can use?

Well, yes, sometimes - but it probably won’t be a huge money-spinner. You will come across offers from bookies that require you to bet on certain sports, such as basketball or American football, and these will usually have point spread markets available.

However, you might have difficulty finding a good match for your bet. American sports aren’t nearly as popular in the UK as British sports, which stands to reason, but this also means the number of people betting on those sports is much smaller.

Your best bet is to focus on major games, where high anticipation is likely to result in more people placing bets on the exchanges, giving you the best chance of finding good matches for your bets.

If so, point spread markets can make it easier to place bets at the odds you’re looking for (e.g. odds high enough to meet the qualifying terms for an offer), hopefully resulting in a decent profit from an NBA offer.

Summary

Once you understand how a point spread works in American sports like basketball - which hopefully you now do! - you should be pretty comfortable placing bets on a spread.

After all, it works just like a handicap bet does in the UK, evening up the gulf between two competing teams to make for more worthwhile odds.

And you can even take advantage of spread markets through Matched Betting!

If you’re wondering about giving Matched Betting a go but are nervous about how to get started, why not read through our beginner’s guide and then sign up for our free trial? You’ll be profiting from NBA bets - and all other kinds of sports - before you know it!