When Ontario became the first Canadian province to create a regulated and fully open iGaming market last April, few would have expected it to deliver the type of revenues that it has to date.
Incredibly, the first nine months of legal trading saw Ontario punters wager more than $21.6 billion, with sports betting on disciplines such as soccer, ice hockey and basketball heavily favoured by bettors.
There are now more than 30 licensed sportsbooks operating in Ontario, including PokerStars. But what basketball betting markets are available through the site, and how can you make the most of your starting bankroll?
PokerStars Sports – An Introduction
You can find a detailed and insightful Pokerstars Ontario review at Casimoose.ca, an affiliate site which compares the best sports betting sites in the region.
Of course, Pokerstars is best known as an online casino and poker brand, and one that launched at the height of the original iGaming boom back in 2001. This period saws the ascent of poker as a mainstream and highly televised sport, with this continuing for much of the noughties and aiding the brand’s growth significantly.
Fast forward 22 years and Pokerstars is now a truly global entity that operates an online casino and sportsbook, with the latter home to around 25 different sports categories and thousands of betting markets.
It has also survived several regulatory challenges during this time, not least the controversial Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006. This was passed by US Congress as part of a wider clampdown on iGaming activity, but Pokerstars was one of the few brands to continue catering to US gamblers during this time.
A Look at Pokerstars Best Basketball Betting Markets
Along with soccer and ice hockey, basketball is one of the most popular sports covered by Pokerstars. So, let’s take a closer look at its most backed basketball betting markets, while asking what sets these apart in the eyes of punters.
#1. Moneyline Betting: I’ll start with the single most popular and straightforward basketball betting market, with ‘moneyline’ or ‘win’ wagers placed on who you think will win a particular game. This market is determined by the result at the end of overtime, although you can occasionally access enhanced odds by wagering on the winner after normal time only. This cannot be described as an even money market due to the fact that matches can end in draws, but this outcome is a statistically rare one in basketball.
#2. Totals Betting: Next up is totals betting, which can cover a range of outcomes from rebounds, assists or points scored during a particular game. Typically, Pokerstars will set a theoretical points tally (such as 153.5) that they think will be scored in a game, before pricing this outcome accordingly. Then, you’ll have to wager whether you think the actual number will be over or under this threshold, creating a genuine even money market where there are only two potential outcomes in play.
#3. Handicap Betting: Handicap or ‘spread’ betting describes a two-way market, in which a virtual handicap is applied to the underdog. This can range from 0.5 points to 15.5 depending on the respective quality of the two sides, with the handicap subsequently applied to the strongest side’s final score. So, if you bet on a short price favourites to win at a handicap of -15.5, the team will have to win by 16 points at least for your wager to be successful. However, this will unlock significantly enhanced odds and much greater returns.
How to Optimise Your Bankroll and Chances of Winning
There are secondary, less popular basketball betting markets, of course, but there’s no doubt that the three referenced continue to see the highest volume of wagers and money staked.
Regardless of your chosen betting markets, however, the question that remains is how can you leverage these to your advantage as a punter?
#1. Choose Licensed and Secure Sites
Any legal betting market shines like a beacon to scammers and rogue operators, especially one that’s as immature and lucrative as Ontario.
So, it’s your responsibility as a bettor to ensure that you’re wagering at a reputable sportsbook, and one that has been licensed by a relevant authority. Take Pokerstars Sports, for example, which has been granted an official iGO license from the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario.
This is the only reputable route to becoming a regulated sportsbook in the province, and your chosen site should display their licensing credentials and number (which should ideally be hyperlinked to provide further information) on their home page.
On a similar note, you should only ever wager at a sportsbook that offers 128-bit SSL encryption as a minimum standard, with this describing Pokerstars and every other recommended operator at Casimoose.ca.
#2. Check Pokerstar’s Range of Promotional Offers
When wagering at Pokerstars Sports (or indeed any other licensed sportsbook), I’d recommend checking out the site’s available range of bonuses for new or existing players.
At Pokerstars, there’s a particularly large and innovative range of sports bonuses, many of which can be deployed on your choice of basketball markets. The site runs regular ‘Sports Leaderboards’ for example, which enable you to earn redeemable points and compete with other players for monthly prize pools and free bets.
The site’s ‘Sunday Freeroll’ also enables you to wager $5 on any sports or basketball outcome at odds of 1.50 or greater, before entering a prize draw and potentially winning a $109 poker tournament ticket!
I’d recommend checking out the site’s unique ‘RequestABet’ feature too, which enables you to construct your own basketball wagers with bespoke odds based on your knowledge of the sport and its participating sides.
#3. Avoid In-Play Betting if You’re a Novice
While in-play is a staple of online sports and basketball betting in Ontario, this isn’t necessarily recommended if you’re relatively new to the sport.
The reason for this is simple; as basketball games are incredibly fast paced and offer access to a bewildering range of in-play and micro betting market, making it hard to identify the best value live odds or arrive at informed decisions.
Without experience of betting on basketball games or a clear understanding of the best in-play markets, live wagering is an excellent way to quickly lose your bankroll and potentially wager more than you can afford to lose.
This rule particularly applies to risky, secondary market picks such as how the first and last points will be scored during a game, and while such outcomes are usually highly priced, they’re almost impossible to predict with any degree of accuracy.
