Best College Basketball Betting Sites | NCAAB Betting Sites for 2025

Before you start, you’ll need to understand the sports betting odds and the types of markets NCAAB betting sites offer. There are a lot of potential markets to bet on in college basketball, some of which are linked to individual games. 

You’ll also have the chance to bet on games as they happen or back championship winners months in advance.

A moneyline bet is the simplest wager in NCAA college basketball. It’s a straight bet on the winner of a game where one team is assigned the favorite and the other the underdog.

College basketball also lends itself well to point spread betting. In a point spread, the favorite is assigned a points handicap before the game starts. The underdog will receive the same amount as a points head-start.

Totals betting is a popular market in college basketball. Essentially, it’s a bet on the total points scored in a game, regardless of individual team scores. The totals market is displayed as an Over/Under and is normally shown in half-points.

Here's an example:

You can also find betting odds on events taking place further into the season. The most popular college basketball futures market is the NCAA Tournament, known as March Madness.

The NCAA Tournament consists of 68 teams, 32 of which are Conference Championship winners, plus 36 committee-selected teams. March Madness is a knockout tournament, with each round contested between seeded teams.

March Madness betting sites offer odds on every round of the NCAA Tournament, as well the outright winner. Bet far enough in advance, and you can pick up some value, especially if the matchups haven’t been decided yet.

With so many teams taking part in the NCAA Tournament each year, finding value can be hard. However, online sportsbooks will often put up high prices on a range of teams to entice speculative sports bettors. This is where you can use a free bet offer to snap up any big odds.

Some college basketball sportsbooks allow in-game betting. Live betting is wagering on NCAA basketball games as they happen. You can follow the action live on TV or track the graphic visualizer to study key plays. The basketball odds will change in real time before your eyes!

Popular live betting markets include point spread, moneyline, totals (over/unders), and overtime prop bets.

In-play betting is a great way of securing a profit when you have more information on how a game is playing out. 

It’s important you work out how you are going to choose your college basketball bets before you make them. You may study the form or recent head-to-head. You may look at which stars are slam-dunking for fun right now, or you might look for underdogs being undervalued in the markets.

You can make clever college basketball picks by knowing how the public bets. Statistics websites track how the public is betting on NCAAB markets. These stats show the consensus or betting percentages.

Essentially, college basketball odds and trends help you decide whether you want to bet with the public or against them. You may agree with the public money and want to follow it. However, the site's odds will certainly be lower because of the risk to their overall returns.

Alternatively, you may want to "fade the public" and deliberately bet against the college basketball consensus. This "contrarian" method is common among professional gamblers. They look for value in markets where most of the money has gone to the home side or a hot favorite. The smart cash, the pro gambler feels, should go on the other team.

Sports betting apps alter their NCAAB odds to save their position. A heavily backed home side may end up odds-on. 

That doesn’t mean they have a better chance of winning, but it could just represent the sheer amount of money being bet on them. This can happen if a home team attracts a large number of bets from gamblers in the same state. This is the ideal time for a savvy gambler to bet the other way.

In many legal sports betting states, U.S. sports bettors to place single wagers on college basketball teams. You can bet on individual game results or team props within a single game. You can also bet on big end-of-season championships like the NCAA March Madness Tournament.

But recently, there has been a nationwide push to restrict some types of bets on college basketball. Some states let you bet on every outcome, including prop bets. Other states, meanwhile, have implemented restrictions on prop bets in an effort to protect college players. 

Props are markets on specific outcomes during a game. Often, prop bets have little bearing on the game's result.

Team prop bets are wagers on specific team totals. Props can include wagers on points for specific quarters or halves. 

Individual player props are typically Over/Under bets on markets such as Total Points and Total Rebounds.

It’s important you know the rules in your state before placing any bets, and you should always check the individual NCAAB betting site to see what types of bets are offered. 

*considering legislation to partially or totally ban prop betting on college players

NCAA basketball offers gamblers a wealth of betting options. You’ll have hundreds of college basketball betting markets to choose from on individual games, and not just on the straight moneyline, totals, and point spread markets. Here are a few simple tips to get you started.

The NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) is one of the major bodies governing college basketball in the United States. Hundreds of colleges take part in separate conferences across three divisions (I, II, and III). Division I comprises the biggest schools with large support programs for athletes.