Basketball Betting Around the World
When you think about basketball, the National Basketball Association, or NBA, probably springs to mind. Basketball is as ubiquitous in the USA as Walmart or Oprah Winfrey, with modern-day superstars like Kobe Bryant, Stephen Curry, LeBron James and Kevin Durant all contributing to the popularity of the sport. What's more, thanks to the wonders of the Internet, betting on your favourite basketball team or player is now more accessible than ever before. Many established and new basketball betting sites offer the latest odds and a variety of markets to fulfil all your betting needs. These days, you can place a wager on your favourite basketball team by simply clicking a mouse from anywhere in the world. All of the best bookmakers offer the latest odds and picks on a variety of basketball markets, which means you can be a part of the winning action anytime you want. Most bookmakers also allow for in-play/live betting, which are bets that are placed while a game is already in progress, adding to the excitement and convenience of the experience.
What is interesting is that, despite popular belief, the USA is not the only country that a) plays basketball and b) offers basketball betting. In fact, many other countries enjoy a rich basketball culture, including the Philippines, Australia, Canada and Iraq. More shockingly, European Basketball betting has been growing in recent years; with the quality of some of Europe's best basketball leagues almost on par with the NBA. Two decades ago, things looked quite different on the European basketball scene. These days, bettors can place wagers on their favourite European basketball teams with ease and efficiency anywhere in the world. The increased number of American players coming to Europe has definitely contributed to this improvement. These players usually make the move if they were not drafted to the NBA or those no longer on the NBA roster but are not ready to retire just yet.
That being said, not every basketball league has developed in this modernised way. Some leagues still play old fashion basketball, which is playing at a medium to low pace in a highly tactical style. These leagues also rely mostly on 3-point shots, a good defence and unyielding team support. Other leagues simply have low-quality games, medium/low-quality shooting averages and a high number of turnovers per game. Most of these leagues stem from countries like Sweden and Portugal. Another interesting factor in European basketball is the formation of combined leagues. These leagues consist of smaller countries within Eastern Europe who seed their better team and play at a regional level. Current combined leagues include Balkan League (BIBL), Baltic League and VTB League. In this way, smaller countries and teams come together, although the quality remains substantially lower than that of the NBA.
There are plenty of edges, odds and markets available for European basketball betting. One noticeable different is that there are often limits within the smaller leagues. While many of the most established bookmakers will offer odds on the most obscure European basketball league, they may not accept large bets on those leagues. This could limit your betting action to a degree, especially if you are a high roller and are interested in betting on these smaller leagues from Eastern Europe. Your best bet would be to compare various European bookmakers offering basketball betting, do some research and figure out exactly where your limitations lie in terms of wagering. European basketball may not be on the same popularity scale as NBA basketball betting, but thanks to improvements, it is definitely close in quality. Should more people outside of the USA become interested in basketball betting, the NBA could face strong contenders from European basketball leagues.
