How To Bet On Basketball In Canada

Basketball popularity here in Canada has grown in recent years.  The Raptors won the NBA Finals in 2019 and have put a competitive team on the floor in recent years, but they now seem to be entering a rebuild.  Canada Basketball is also in great hands internationally with some solid, young NBA stars such as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jamal Murray become superstars in the league.  The future is bright for Canadian basketball.

On this page I will provide you with all of the information necessary to start placing basketball bets online.  I’ve started off by outlining the best betting sites for Canadians, and followed that up by breaking down the most popular types of basketball bets offered at these sites.  At the bottom of the page I’ve included a 3 step guide that you can follow to place your first online basketball bet within minutes.

Where To Bet On Basketball From Canada

Sportsbook	Rating	Offers	Review	Visit
		See Website For Details	Review	Visit
		See Website for Details	Review	Visit
		See Website For Details	Review	Visit

These are the three betting sites with significant presence here in Canada.  Each of the sites are reputable, respected, trustworthy and focused on growing their Canadian player base.

Check out any of the reviews above for a full breakdown of the betting site including their features, betting options, banking options, customer service and more.

Different Basketball Betting Options

There are three main bets that get the vast majority of handle in a basketball game.  The point spread, money line and over/under bets.  I will break each of these down in detail below and provide examples.

Point Spread

The point spread bets generally get the most action on an NBA basketball game.  In a point spread game the oddsmakers set a spread and the favoured team must win by more than the spread, while the underdog must either win the game outright or lose by fewer points than the spread.  Let’s look at an example:

This example has the Raptors heading to Milwaukee to face the Bucks.  In this game the Bucks are 14.5 point favourites, as you can see in the first column of the odds screenshot above.  The -14.5 indicates that the Bucks must win the game by 15 or more points to cover the spread.  For a Raptors spread bet to win they must win the game outright or lose by 14 or fewer points.

Both sides of the spread have equal odds of 1.91, which means a $100 bet would win $91.  The odds can vary, but you will usually see 1.91 (aka -110 in American odds) for basketball spreads.  Check out our sports betting odds page if you don’t understand how to read the odds.

Money Line

With a money line bet you are wagering on which team will win the game straight up.  The oddsmakers set the odds based on each teams perceived chances of winning the game.

Continuing with the Raptors vs Bucks example, you can see that the Bucks are expected to win the game.  The Bucks odds of 1.09 to win the game indicate that you would only win $9 on a $100 bet.  On the flip side, the Raptors are underdogs with a $100 bet on the Raptors paying out $800 if they pull off the upset.

Over/Under

The third main bet offering on a basketball game is the over/under (aka the total).  The oddsmaker will set a total number of points to be scored in the game (by both teams combined) and you can wager on whether there will be more or fewer points scored.

In the Raptors vs Bucks game the over/under is set at 230.5 points.  If 231 or more points are scored in the game then the over bet would be a winner, while if 230 or fewer points are scored the under would be the winner.

How To Place Your First Basketball Bet

Follow this simple 3 step guide to place your first online basketball bet within 5 minutes.

Step #1. Open an Online Betting Account

Our top rated betting site for Canadians is SportsInteraction.com, so I will be using them as the sign up example for the remainder of the guide, but you can read the reviews of each of the 3 sportsbooks we recommended above and select the site you like the best.

I’ve used Sports Interaction for the example screenshots above.

Click here to visit SportsInteraction.com.  Then select ‘Register Here’ on the landing page and fill in the short registration form to create your account.

Step #2. Deposit

Next you will need to deposit to fund your account.  Sports Interaction accepts, Visa, MasterCard, Interac e-Transfer, Online Banking and paysafecard deposits.  So you should no trouble getting your money into or out of your Sports Interaction account.

Step #3. Place Your Basketball Bets

Alright, now comes the fun part.  Actually placing your basketball bets.

Once at the Sports Interaction website, select ‘Basketball’ from the ‘Top Sports’ menu in the SIA Sportsbook. This should bring up the betting lines for the upcoming NBA games under the ‘Featured’ tab. You can also select ‘Events’ tab followed by ‘NBA’ to ensure you’re on the NBA betting markets page.

If you look at the right side of the screenshot you can see the ‘Bet Slip’.  After you’ve made your betting selection it will move to the bet slip where you will enter your bet amount and confirm the wager.  In the screenshot above I’ve select the Raptors money line with odds of 8.00.  You can see my bet amount of $100 and Bet Payout of $800.  To confirm that wager I would just need to click the ‘Place Bet’ button.

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