Where To Bet British Basketball League (BBL) Online
BBL stands for the British Basketball League. It’s a league that takes place in the United Kingdom and was first formed in 1987.
This is essentially the “premier” league of basketball in the UK, and it is NOT the same as the EBL (English Basketball League). Both the EBL and Scottish Men’s National Leagues are essentially a lower division, although there is no promotion or relegation between the leagues.
The British Basketball League usually takes place from the end of September/beginning of October until the end of May the following year. There is a regular season and then the top 8 teams go into playoffs. The playoffs consist of 2 leg games home and away, with the final being one game on neutral crowds.
In this article I’m going to explain the best places to bet the BBL online.
Where To Bet BBL Online:
America: The only option for Americans to bet on the BBL are at Bovada. They offer up very basic betting for BBL games. You can bet the point spread, the money line and the over/under on total points.
Everywhere Else: The best option for BBL betting is 888. Not only are they a trustworthy sportsbook but the amount of prop bets they offer is excellent. You can of course bet the basics – who will win, the point spread and the over/under. However they also offer a wide variety of alternate handicap betting, allow you to bet team totals, allow you to bet who will win specific quarters, who will lead at the end of a half and various other bets. For BBL betting, 888 is #1.
Where To Make Specific BBL Bets:
I will comprise a list here eventually with all the BBL bets and where to make them. In the meantime 888 is generally the best bet for most props.
How to Bet BBL Online
Bovada: You need an account here first of all to actually see lines. When you are logged in, you’ll see all of the sports listed and find basketball. From the pulldown menu, you will see all of the leagues available to bet on. Then click “Continue” and that lists the bets. You then just put in your amount in the box and follow the steps.
888: Basketball will be on the sidebar or in the “Sports A-Z” in the top nav. However it’s a bit of a mess with how it’s organized – the primary leagues are displayed and you need to scroll down and expand the BBL section which is called “England / BBL”. Then it will list the basic lines for each game and you have to actually click on the team names to see all of the other bets available.
What BBL Bets / Props Are There?
The most basic BBL bets are betting to win, betting the point spread, or the over/under. These are the most common.
The point spread is where one team is stronger than the other so are handicapped. For example the line might say Bristol Flyers +8,5 vs Leicester Riders -8.5. That means whatever side you bet, the Bristol Flyers start with an 8.5 point head start. So if the game ends 78-74 to Leicester Riders, even though Leicester own the game, if you add 8.5 points to the Flyers score then they actually win 82.5-78. So in that instance, betting Bristol +8.5 would win you the bet and betting Leicester -8.5 would lose you the bet.
Other bets available are team totals, alternate handicaps, and various props such as the exact winning margin.
Common BBL Questions:
Can BBL games end in a tie?
This is something that can occur during the BBL playoffs and has people confused. A recent example would be the first leg in the London Lions vs Glasgow Rocks game in 2017-2018 in the semi finals. The 1st leg ended 78-78 and I had people asking me about that.
It’s a total score on aggregate so 78-78 is the score of the first leg but they have a second leg to play and then the combined score of both games is what decides the winner.
Certain sportsbooks will allow you to actually bet on if it will be a tie for some nice odds.
Can you bet BBL Player Props online?
No unfortunately.
Where To Watch BBL Online:
There are various ways to watch the BBL online. See their website which lists options for watching BBL Online such as LiveBasketball.TV, UNILAD and BBC.
BBL Betting Strategy:
A lot of the lines for the BBL can be quite soft due to lack of popularity on the betting front – so if you do your research, you should be good. You’ll find there are usually very strong teams in the BBL and very weak teams and sometimes it’s best to take some of the strong teams at bad odds and throw them in a treble. That way you don’t have to worry too much about what is usually a risky point spread.