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NCAA Betting: How to bet on College Sports
NCAA Betting Sites for the USA
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Betting on College Sports
There are markets and odds on numerous American college sports with football, basketball, baseball and hockey leading the way.
Like all sports betting, the key to gaining an edge in NCAA betting is knowing your teams and your players.
For college sports like football, the attraction is the sheer number of games up to 30 per week. There are four college football leagues, the top one being the Football Bowl Subdivision, FBS. The FBS is made up of 124 teams divided into 11 geographical conferences
With the standard of college teams in many sports varying greatly, some games can be one-sided. The odds on the moneyline or win bet can prove unattractive so the spread bet can be popular in many sports. Here, each side is given a spread to counter the favourite’s dominance. You can bet on a favourite with a -12.5 spread, meaning you’re betting on them to win by 13 points or more.
In a one-sided clash, when you’re expecting lots of points/goals to be scored, you can also bet on the total market. The bookmaker will give a total spread on points/goals and you bet over or under that total.
Check US college sports online betting sites like bet365 NJ, betamerica, pointsbet and fanduel. In-play betting allows you to see how a game develops before making your selection.
Watch your college sports and learn the basics before betting: which teams are in form; which are dominant at home or are particularly good away. ESPN shows a lot of college sport including football, baseball, basketball and hockey.
A bit about college sports history
Many of the top sports watched and played worldwide have their origins in the colleges of the US.
Whereas some say college sports and their professional equivalent might as well be different games, there is a natural progression from one to the other.
One of the most historically famous college teams, Notre Dame, play their home football games in a near 80,000-seater stadium, demonstrating the popularity of their team, and of college sport in general.
The first organized college sports club was formed at Yale University in 1843, the boat club, with Harvard following soon after. The first intercollegiate boat race took place between the two in 1852, and that was the basis for the intense rivalry between the colleges that continues to this day.
The development of different sports progressed with the first intercollegiate baseball game in 1859 between Amherst and Williams. By 1870 colleges had extensive fixture schedules, and a college baseball league was formed shortly afterwards.
Other leagues followed and in the early part of the 20th century, in response to concerns over safety in football, the colleges formed a body for rules-making. That body became the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA.
The NCAA hosted its first ever national championships in 1921 for track and field, with different sports championships following.
As TV grew in the 1950s its interest in college sports intensified, and as fears grew over the impact it would have on football attendances, a deal was agreed to control TV coverage.
Whereas many professional sports teams are franchises which can, effectively, take their team to play anywhere they want, college teams are rooted in their community. Many local people have more pride in their college team than the professional sides based in the state where they live.
The support and development of college sports goes way beyond the big four football, baseball, basketball and hockey with the NCAA currently organising 90 national championships.
