HomeNBA Betting in Massachusetts

NBA Betting in Massachusetts

The NBA is the second-most wagered on professional league in the United States, trailing only the NFL. This trend holds true in Massachusetts, where the hometown Boston Celtics hold an NBA record 18 Championships.

Dan Bradley By: Dan Bradley
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Table of contents

Here, we’ve laid out a guide to NBA betting in Massachusetts, including which sportsbooks are the best for NBA betting, how to read the odds, and expert tips when betting on basketball.

Which are the best Massachusetts sportsbooks for NBA betting?

The true “best” Massachusetts sportsbook for NBA betting is somewhat of a matter of personal preference. However, we’ve found these four operators to consistently provide competitive odds and generous bonuses on reliable platforms.

DraftKings Massachusetts Logo

DraftKings

DraftKings MA is far and away the most popular Massachusetts sportsbook, likely due to its Boston roots (the company was founded there in 2012). In addition to in-play betting, it is an excellent option for daily fantasy sports (DFS) enthusiasts.

FanDuel Massachusetts Logo

FanDuel

FanDuel often goes hand-in-hand with DraftKings, and for good reason; the two companies tend to dominate the market wherever they go. You’ll find an impressive assortment of same game parlay options on FanDuel’s website and mobile betting app. FanDuel is an official betting partner for the Boston Bruins.

Caesars Massachusetts Logo

Caesars

Caesars Sportsbook MA has a partnership with the NBA that dates back to 2019 and is known for its generous basketball bonuses. Its welcome offers tend to have higher maximum potential returns than other MA sportsbooks.

BetMGM Massachusetts Logo

BetMGM

BetMGM has one of the premier rewards programs in the gambling space, and the MGM Casino in Springfield is a favorite sport for Massachusetts bettors. It is also an official betting partner for the Boston Red Sox.

Sportsbooks tend to modify their promotional offers throughout the year to match the sports that are in season. When the NBA season rolls around, these are a few of the promos Massachusetts sportsbooks may offer.

  • Boosted odds: Boosted odds are a bonus that results in higher payouts on winning wagers. For NBA action, this could appear in the form of boosting the Boston Celtics betting odds on the moneyline or spread line, or for an individual player’s prop odds in a given stat category. These boosts usually fall between +25 and +100 added to the line, but on rare occasions, we’ve seen even higher totals.
  • Bonus bets: NBA bonus bets are a form of betting credit that is locked in at a predetermined amount (most commonly in increments of $5, $10, $25, or $50, though the amount is up to the sportsbook). Bonus bets could be used either alongside a real-money wager to boost your profit or as a standalone stake where you don’t have to touch your bankroll at all.
  • Bet/Get: Most commonly offered as a welcome bonus, an NBA bet/get offer would read something like “Bet $5 on any NBA line and get $150 in bonus bets instantly.” The amount needed to qualify for the offer is generally a lower amount ($5 and $10 have been the most frequent we’ve seen, though there were a few $20+ options).

Getting started betting on the NBA online in Massachusetts

Sports gambling is legal in Massachusetts, so you can get started betting on the NBA online today! Here’s how to begin.

  1. Learn about the available Massachusetts sportsbooks: For your convenience and reference, we’ve comprised comprehensive reviews of all legitimate, licensed MA sportsbooks. These reviews contain information about welcome bonuses, banking methods, app and website performances, volume of betting lines, and more. We’ve also included an overall score based on these factors.
  2. Complete the registration process: Once you’ve learned what sportsbooks are at your disposal and have found a few that fit what you’re looking for, you can click the links at the top of each sportsbook review. This will open the signup forms in a new tab in your browser. From there, you will need to provide, at minimum, account credentials (email address, username, password, and phone number) and identifying information (legal name, home address, date of birth, last four digits of your social security number).
  3. (Optional) Download the betting app and bookmark the web page: There are pros and cons to using both the desktop and mobile platforms of whichever sportsbook you choose to use. Go with whatever is most convenient and comfortable for you to use.
  4. Research NBA action and make your bets: Getting as much information as you can that is relevant to the bets you want to make will increase your likelihood of winning. We always recommend checking injury reports, travel schedules, recent and season-long trends, referees, and prior head-to-head results before making your bets. You’ll also develop strategies as you go and may find betting sharps you like to follow as you go.

Wagers you can place on the NBA in MA

The NBA gambling landscape offers a virtually limitless smörgåsbord of bet types for you to choose from. Here are some of the most popular kinds of wagers you can place on the NBA in MA.

  • Player and team props: Player and team props are wagers that center on in-game events and won’t necessarily require the team you’re backing to win. For example, you may hear about “Jayson Tatum’s points prop” during a Celtics pregame show. This is a reference to the projected point total sportsbooks think Tatum will reach. Bettors can then decide whether they think Tatum will finish with over or under that posted total. These can also be team-focused (such as the nature of the first point scored, first quarter point total, or team point totals).
  • Parlays: Parlays are a bet type that combines multiple gambling outcomes (or “legs”) into a single wager, with the odds multiplied for each leg added to the slip. For example, a three-leg parlay of Jaylen Brown over 5.5 assists at +125, Kristaps Porziņģis over 7.5 rebounds (-125) and the Celtics to score over 107.5 points (-120). Wagering $10 on each of these lines would require you to risk $30 to win $28.83 (and pay out $58.83); however, by combining these into a parlay, a single $10 bet would win $64.25 and pay out $74.25. Because of these multiplied odds, parlays can be quite profitable even when you’re betting with a smaller stake. However, you must be careful, as the entire bet is scored as a loss if even one leg comes up short.
  • Moneyline and spread: Moneyline and spread bets both refer to predicting the winner of a game but are applied in different ways. While a moneyline bet simply considers the outright winner without any other factors (such as margin of victory or whether the game goes to overtime), spread bets require the betting favorite to win and beat their opponent by a given point total. Conversely, a wager on the underdog can still result in a win even if the team loses the game but manages to keep the score close.

Betting on NBA Finals & playoffs

There are also a few different types of bets you can make on the NBA Finals and the playoffs. Wagers on which teams will make the playoffs, who will win in each round, and the team to win the Finals are called “futures” bets; You can also still bet on the individual matchups in the postseason.

In general, the earlier you make your futures bet, the more favorable the odds are that you’re going to get. However, with a bigger field of betting outcomes, there is an increased likelihood that your bet will lose. Timing is key when making your futures bets.

How can you read NBA odds?

Reading NBA odds is a bit confusing, but its the single most important element to NBA betting. Most Massachusetts sportsbooks will list odds in what is called the American format (which is what we’ll be discussing), but once you get more comfortable with sports betting, you may also be able to use decimal, fractional, or implied odds.

When reading American odds on NBA action, you must first identify the “+” and “-” symbols located in the odds grouping. A “+” symbol is used to indicate a betting underdog, which is the perceived less likely outcome to occur.

Oppositely, a “-” symbol shows the betting favorite, which is the more likely outcome. In a head-to-head matchup, you’ll only see one favorite and one underdog, though for futures bets, most outcomes will have a + symbol.

Next, look at the number that comes after each symbol. Numbers after the “-” sign indicate how much money you would need to bet to win $100, while numbers after the + sign show how much money a $100 wager would win.

It’s important to know that you won’t need to bet $100 or more on each wager. Payouts scale proportionally to your stake, so you can find any amount to bet that is comfortably within your financial means.

In instances like futures bets where all outcomes have a “+” sign, the favorite is the one with the smallest number after the symbol. Additionally, if a matchup is expected to be close, it’s possible both outcomes have “-” symbols; in that case, the favorite is the one with the higher number after the “-” sign.

Tips when betting on the NBA

Here are our top tips when betting on the NBA.

  • Projections are guidelines, not gospels: While reading betting previews and studying betting trends can be a good way to glean matchup insights, they aren’t perfect. Favorites can collapse, underdogs can come out of nowhere, and even perfectly logical outcomes can fail. Make wagers that make sense, but be comfortable with knowing they still might not win.
  • Study the schedules: Fatigue is always a factor in the NBA, and in recent years, players and teams have embraced “load management.” This means players may see their playing time adjusted if they are on the second leg of a back-to-back or if a travel schedule has been particularly grueling.
  • Shop the lines: Checking the lines at multiple sports betting sites will help you find better deals for the wagers you want to make. For example, you may find one sportsbook consistently offers more favorable lines on spread bets while another is friendlier for player spots. You should always focus on finding the best value for the wagers you’re playing, and odds shopping will help you make more money in the long run than only using one sportsbook.

Author Details

Dan Bradley

Dan Bradley

Dan Bradley, a betting analyst and author at MA Betting, brings extensive experience from over a decade as a hockey commentator for junior teams in Illinois, Minnesota, and Ohio. When he's not engaged in writing or co-hosting his NHL-focused podcast, "Pod Snipe Celly," Dan is frequently seen at the rink, immersed in the hockey world.