Basketball - NBA Draft Betting

Every sporting event can be wagered on and the NBA draft is no exception. In fact, people can make a load of cash if they just do some simple research and line shopping.

Here is the deal about betting on the NBA draft: the majority of people that gamble on it do it for fun. Among seasoned handicappers, betting on such things rarely take place. As a result, Vegas and the sportsbooks only really take in money from average Joes. As a result, the more betting options they give their customers, the more money they will have wagered at their sportsbooks and undoubtedly the more money they will win.

Do they do a good job researching all of these lines? No. In fact, they make it clear that they don't by always strapping on a lot of juice and limiting the amount you can risk on the game.

But because of the high juice it takes a lot of effort and patience to really make money doing this. And if you don't, at least you had fun in the process. Here are our steps to profiting from the NBA Draft.

1. Find the best lines around. The biggest disparity in odds across the sportsbooks are futures and prop bets. Since there is no general thumb for making these odds, most sportsbooks kind of make them up on the fly. You definitely must have accounts at around 3-5 sportsbooks to truly be successful at this. We recommend you checking out the sportsbooks on our site.

2. Reading the local papers will let you know what the teams are thinking going into the draft. Especially when it comes to who will be picked #1. In fact, it was apparent 2-3 days prior to the draft that Reggie Bush was not going to be taken #1. How can you tell? Reggie Bush said it himself to some local papers about how he was given the "brush aside" treatment which made him feel like he was not even considered. Reggie Bush remained at -300 odds to be selected #1 because this information was never trickled up to national media.

3. Make your bets according to the need around the league. The lottery picks are usually very predictable. Teams will generally select the best players available in an effort to build around that player. What we see from the later rounds is a draft geared more towards need. For example, the Nets, Bulls, and Pistons all lost to the Miami Heat. Dwyane Wade carried that team so you should expect to see emphasis being made on taking good perimeter defenders to try and slow down Wade. For this reason alone, we expect to see Jordan Farmar selected in the first round. Additionally, the NBA is a copycat league and teams will draft guards only becase the Heat won because of a guard. So check the sportsbooks to see the over/under on Jordan Farmar's draft positions and the over/under for guards taken in the first round. Farmar should go Under the total and total guards chosen should go over.