Future Favorites as College Basketball Begins

by WagerHome Blog on November 8, 2023

The college basketball season for both men and women began on Monday, and two unusual upsets highlighted opening night.

The best women’s basketball team in the land, the LSU Tigers, were easily handled by the Colorado Buffaloes, 92-78. Frida Foremann of Colorado led the upset with 27 points and seven 3-pointers. Angel Reece, who was the NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player when LSU rolled to the national championship last spring, had just 15 points on 15 shots.

It was the first time a women’s defending national champion lost on opening night since 1995.

On the men’s side the No. 4 ranked Michigan State Spartans lost to James Madison, 76-74 in overtime, making it just the first time a top-five team lost to an unranked opponent on opening night since 2005. That team that lost in 2005 was Michigan State.

This was the first November home loss for the Spartans since 1986, and just the second time in school history that James Madison has beaten a ranked team.

Men’s National Championship Favorites

  • Kansas (+1000)
  • Duke (+1100)
  • Purdue (+1100)
  • Kentucky (+1200)
  • Arizona (+1400)
  • UConn (+1400)
  • Michigan State (+1800)
  • Marquette (+1800)

Kansas has made head coach Bill Self the highest paid coach in the nation, and the Jayhawks are the favorites to win another national championship. They won it in 2022, but last year they were knocked out in the second round by Arkansas.

UConn is the defending national champion, and the Huskies are tied with Arizona for the fifth shortest odds to begin the season. The Wildcats won the Pac-12 Tournament last year and were awarded a two-seed, but they were bounced in the first round by the 15th-seeded Princeton Tigers.

Michigan State has fallen to +1800 after their loss to JMU in East Lansing.

Women’s National Championship Favorites

  • UConn (+400)
  • LSU (+450)
  • Iowa (+900)
  • Utah (+950)
  • South Carolina (+1100)
  • UCLA (+1400)
  • Indiana (+1500)
  • Ohio State (+1800)

LSU has dropped behind UConn as the early favorites to win the women’s national championship. UConn holds the record with 11 women’s national championships, and this season they have Page Bueckers. She was the AP, Naismith, and John Wooden Player of the Year in 2021, but missed all of last year with a torn ACL.

She headlines a great battle for this season’s player of the year, with Reece from LSU and Caitlin Clark of Iowa. Reece is the preseason SEC Player of the Year, and Clark is the preseason Big Ten Player of the Year. Reece and Clark, and LSU and Iowa, played in the finals last year of the highest rated NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament in history.

Pay Per Head Software

Now that college basketball has begun, all of the winter sports are on the betting schedule. NBA, NHL, and the NFL and college football – so many sports, so little time for an independent bookmaker. That’s where our Pay Per Head comes in…

With WagerHome you get a fully customizable website, access to WagerHome’s huge menu of sports and betting options, plus EZ Live betting. See a demo today at WagerHome.com.

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WagerHome BlogFuture Favorites as College Basketball Begins
christmas day

Christmas Day Opens Door for Nice Multiple Sports Parlay

by WagerHome Blog on December 24, 2020

If you are an independent bookmaker or just someone who has thought about opening your own bookmaking shop, you already know about the NBA showcase on Christmas Day. It’s the biggest day on pro basketball’s regular-season television calendar.

But with Christmas falling on a Friday this year – which is close enough to the weekend for the NFL to jump on board – we’re getting two professional sports on one big day. Add in a college bowl game and three college basketball games involving Top 25 teams, and it’s a sports betting Christmas Miracle.

NBA Lineup

From right after you open the presents under your tree to right before you go to bed, there are five of the best NBA matchups of the season to watch and wager.

  • New Orleans Pelicans Miami at Heat (-5)
  • Golden State Warriors at Milwaukee Bucks (-8)
  • Brooklyn Nets (-1) at Boston Celtics
  • Dallas Mavericks at Los Angeles Lakers (-6)
  • LA Clippers at Denver Nuggets (Pick)

The day starts with last season’s Eastern Conference champion, the Heat, hosting Lonzo Ball, Zion Williamson, and the New Orleans Pelicans. Next, the favorite to win the East this season, the Milwaukee Bucks, host a returning Stephen Curry and the Warriors.

Then, the Celtics, a conference finalist a season ago, host the Nets, who are led by a now-healthy Kevin Durant.

In the Western Conference, the defending NBA champion Lakers continue the defense of their title against the Mavericks. The two biggest challengers to the Lakers, the Clippers and Nuggets, finish off the night in Denver.

Minnesota Vikings at New Orleans Saints

New Orleans sports fans have a full day, starting with the Pelicans and ending with the Saints and their effort to stay as the NFC’s second seed. The Saints are seven-point favorites over the sliding Minnesota Vikings, who see their Wild Card hopes on life support.

christmas dayIt’s the second game for Drew Brees since he came back from broken ribs, and it will be the second game since Michael Thomas was placed on injured reserve. The rushing title is Derrick Henry’s to lose, but the Vikings’ Dalvin Cook leads the NFL in total yards from scrimmage and is on pace to break 2,100 yards.

College Sports Schedule

Adding to the mix of great Christmas Day professional sports is the Camellia Bowl in Montgomery, Ala. Both Marshall and Buffalo began the season with long winning streaks but head into their bowl matchup after each taking a loss. Buffalo is favored by 3.5 points, and the over/under is 53.5.

College basketball has four Big Ten games on its schedule, including three games involving ranked teams.

  • No. 9 Wisconsin at No. 12 Michigan State
  • No. 19 Michigan at Nebraska
  • No. 4 Iowa at Minnesota

Pay Per Head Software

It’s not too late to get a pay per head partner to help you make the most of Christmas Day parlay action. With PPH powering your bookmaking business, you get a fully customizable website, automated odds, 24/7 customer support, and detailed reports on each of your clients.

Get a demo today at WagerHome.com and sign up now for a free four-week trial.

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WagerHome BlogChristmas Day Opens Door for Nice Multiple Sports Parlay
Big Ten

Betting on the Big Ten Tournament May Be a Wild Ride in 2020

by WagerHome Blog on March 10, 2020

March is one of the most exciting times in the sports betting industry, and it is a great time to start your own pay per head site. If you have ever dreamed of being your own bookie, then starting things up before the start of March Madness could be very beneficial to you.

If this is something that interests you, then visiting WagerHome.com is a great first step in achieving your goal. WagerHome.com has all of the tools needed to help launch your own pay per head site and become a bookie.

With that in mind, let’s also take a look at the upcoming Big Ten Tournament set to take place in Indianapolis. The Big Ten Conference is widely considered one of the best leagues in the country, and the Big Ten Tournament could be a wild ride.

The Top Four Seeds

There was a three-way tie for the conference title during the regular season, with a fourth team right behind the pack. Wisconsin, Michigan State, and Maryland all finished the regular season with a 14-6 record in conference play, but it will be the Wisconsin Badgers who are the top seed.

Illinois finished the regular season with a record of 13-7, and it is slated to take on the Badgers in the semifinals. Michigan State and Maryland might be two of the best teams in the country, and they could square off in the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament.

These four teams should all have a say in who wins the tournament, but there are plenty of other teams ready to pull off an upset.

Best of the Rest

There was a four-way tie for fifth place in the Big Ten as well, which shows just how loaded this conference is. Iowa, Ohio State, Penn State, and Rutgers all finished the regular season with a record of 11-9, and they are all locks to make the NCAA Tournament.

Losing nine games during the conference season might seem like a lot, but all four of these teams have all been ranked for much of the season. Don’t be surprised to see one of these teams cutting down the nets in Indianapolis.

Our Predictions

The tournament kicks off on Wednesday with a pair of games. Minnesota should beat Northwestern, and Indiana will take care of Nebraska.

On Thursday, ninth-seeded Michigan will pull off a slight upset over eighth-seeded Rutgers, and fifth-seeded Iowa will easily dispatch Minnesota. The seven seed, Ohio State, beats Purdue, while sixth-seeded Penn State beats Indiana.

Big Ten

That takes us to the quarterfinal round, and this is where things should get fun. Don’t be shocked if Michigan upsets No. 1 Wisconsin on Friday morning. The second game will feature Iowa and Illinois, who just played a thriller in the regular-season finale.

Michigan State and Ohio State also went toe to toe on Sunday, and they will meet up in the quarterfinals, and Maryland and Penn State have a great rivalry.

Let’s take Michigan and Illinois to the semifinals on Saturday, along with Maryland and Michigan State. At this point, it’s really too close to call, and it could go either way. There is also a chance that it could be four different teams in the semifinals.

The Big Ten Conference tournament is going to be a wild ride, and fans should enjoy it.

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WagerHome BlogBetting on the Big Ten Tournament May Be a Wild Ride in 2020
college basketball

Top Three Factors In Placing Winning Bets On College Basketball

by WagerHome Blog on January 4, 2020

Now that the calendar has ticked over to January, the college basketball season is ready to heat up, with full in-conference play and the race to the NCAA Tournament.

Sports gamblers are beginning to turn their focus away from football and over to basketball, and bookmakers are doing the same. It’s also the time of year to take your bookmaking service to the next level and sign up with a pay per head software service. At WagerHome.com, you can get four weeks free to test it out.

There is no testing out college basketball betting, however. You want to win, and you want to win now, and these are the three keys to make sure that happens.

Choose Your Season

It’s all about finding the best value when placing your sports bets, and that means finding the point spreads that offer you room to succeed. College basketball is perfect for this because there are so many games to bet each day that it becomes impossible for every point spread to be 100 percent accurate.

Too many games to track for the books means more games for you to exploit as a bettor.

But that, of course, changes by March and the NCAA Tournament, when information is plentiful and the games become fewer. This isn’t to say you should avoid betting on the Tournament.

It’s one of the greatest spectacles in sports and worth your time as a gambler. But you will find better values at other points in the season. So for the sake of profitability, your focus should be there.

Take Notes and Keep Records

Because there are so many games and so many variables to consider when placing your college basketball bets, keep track of the bets you make, the reasons behind those bets, and the success you had because of those reasons.

Good record-keeping by you can be just as informative going forward as insider information from experienced sharps. It allows you to see where you went right, and more importantly, where you may have gone wrong. And then, you can filter out the information that doesn’t direct successful wagering.

Make a spreadsheet that tracks your bets, the spread, and the final score. Examine the trends of teams you know and like to bet and keep track of what factors lead to their wins and losses. And then use all that information to formulate a plan going forward.

college basketball

Watch Basketball

It sounds obvious, but it’s often ignored by people who think all they need to know are numbers. Watching basketball will give you more information than any boxscore.

Study which players excel in certain situations. Learn the offenses and defenses that teams like to play, and then see which types they match up best against.

Sports isn’t blackjack. There are no mathematical formulas that tell you which way you should bet. To be fully informed, you need to know the teams, the players, and have a complete understanding of how each performs on the court.

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WagerHome BlogTop Three Factors In Placing Winning Bets On College Basketball

Wagering NCAA Basketball During The Peak Of The Season With Pay Per Head

by WagerHome Blog on December 10, 2019

We’ve gotten past the early weeks of the 2019-20 college basketball season, where teams are still figuring out what they have with their new players, how their team is going to gel, and where they stand among the competition. That means the real season can now begin, and the real wagering can commence.

Conference Play

There is a small smattering of conference games that tip off in November and December, but the real action gets going in early January. If you are running your own bookmaking site through a pay per head service, then you know that this is when the action really picks up.

In the first week of January alone, we get top-25 showdowns between Ohio State and Maryland, Pittsburgh and North Carolina, Arizona and Oregon, Alabama and Kentucky, Baylor and Kansas, Louisville and Notre Dame, and Wake Forest and Duke.

If you haven’t yet signed up for pay per head site to handle the administrative side of your bookmaking service, be sure to do so prior to January. WagerHome.com gives you four free weeks to test it out, which will take you right up to the start of full conference play.

Conference Tournaments

They may not quite have the same panache as the NCAA Tournament, but if you are a savvy bettor, then you know that conference tournaments can make for some of the best betting of the entire season. The teams all know each other, and an automatic bid to the NCAAs raises the stakes. And some teams can play as many as five games in five days, going back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to back.

And with so many games all going on at once, and so many lines for the books to keep track of, real bargains and values can be found. With 32 conferences crowning a champion over the course of eight days, the March Madness really begins before the committee has announced a single seeding.

NCAA Tournament

It’s not just the biggest event of the college basketball year, and thus its biggest wagering event, it’s one of the biggest events on the entire sports calendar, only sharing the top of the sports gambling mountain with the Super Bowl. But that’s just one day. The NCAA Tournament goes on for a full three weeks.

Anyone who bets the NCAA Tournament knows that it requires a complete change in strategy. Overall strength of a team is less important than how they’ve been playing down the stretch. Teams with big-time scorers may get the hype, but the teams built for a deep tournament run play great defense.

There are no more homecourts, but location, travel, and traveling fans are all very important. And since a lot of people just start betting at tournament time, public money may not be informed money.

All of these are important things to know and factor in when placing wagers on the NCAA Tournament, or running your own PPH site that is expecting an uptick in action come March.

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WagerHome BlogWagering NCAA Basketball During The Peak Of The Season With Pay Per Head

Three Darkhorses To Win College Basketball’s National Title In 2020

by WagerHome Blog on November 4, 2019

The college basketball season tips off on Tuesday, and there is a lot of time between then and March Madness. That is good for you as a bookie with all of the college hoops betting action that is rampant for the next few months.

It is important that when you have a legit Pay Per Head website, like the one you can get through WagerHome.com, that you get in touch with your players and let them know all of the college basketball betting options. There are so many of them from spreads and totals to moneylines and futures that you can offer your players, as the more betting options they have, the more they can bet and the more money you can make.

One popular betting option is the futures bet on which team will win the national championship. Players can have betting action the whole season with that bet, as they can wager on the team they think will be cutting down the nets in March.

The usual suspects being the powerhouses of college hoops have the best betting odds to win it all in Michigan State (+650), Kentucky (+800), Kansas (+850), and Duke (+1000), but let’s take a look at three darkhorses that can win the title.

Texas Tech (+2500)

The Red Raiders were the national runner-up last season, and they do not have great odds to win it all since they lost three of five starters. Davide Moretti and Kyler Edwards are the returning players, but the reason the Red Raiders are a darkhorse is that they have incoming freshman Jahmius Ramsey, who may be a one-and-done player and is highly touted to have a big season.

Chris Clarke and T.J. Holyfield are a couple of solid graduate transfers, and head coach Chris Beard knows how to get his players to buy into the Tech system. The Red Raiders are flying under the radar to begin the season, and they have the talent to go on another deep March Madness run.

Arizona (+3500)

Arizona is the 21st-ranked team in the preseason polls, and they are all about youth, with a pair of five-star freshmen, Nico Mannion and Josh Green, expected to lead the team. The Wildcats also have top-50 recruit Zeke Nnaji in the paint, and the school got some good news recently, as Kentucky transfer Jemarl Baker can play this season and not sit out.

There are still a lot of questions for head coach Sean Miller to answer, but the Wildcats are loaded with talent.

Utah State (+7500)

Talk about a darkhorse in Utah State, which is not from a major conference and has major longshot odds. However, the Aggies have, perhaps, the best center in the nation in Neemias Queta, and they bring back five of their top six players from last season, including Sam Merrill, who may have a breakout season.

The team won 28 games last season and made the Big Dance, losing in the first round, but they have almost all of their players back and may make a lot of noise come March.

The college hoops season is here, and you, as a bookie, have to pounce on all the betting options available. Let your players know all of their college basketball betting options, as there are many, and you can really profit with your PPH site in the several months of the NCAA basketball season.

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WagerHome BlogThree Darkhorses To Win College Basketball’s National Title In 2020

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