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NCAAB Winning Margin Betting

Author

Eric Kithinji

Updated: Nov 23, 2024

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NCAAB Winning Margin Stats

Disclaimer: Please note that the NCAAB stats table displayed on this page may not include all games due to the unavailability of certain data. We appreciate your understanding and trust in our service to provide you with reliable and up-to-date information.

Table Legend

  • WM: Average Winning Margin over all of this season’s games
  • WM 1-5: Record of Winning Margin between 1-5
  • LM 1-5: Record of Losing Margin between 1-5

NCAAB Winning Margin

If you’re tired of betting on the spread or moneyline and want to kick things up a notch, betting on the winning margin is one decent alternative.

This is a prop that boasts a slight resemblance to point spreads, but there are a couple of things that make it different from betting on the spread.

As the name of the wager suggests, the major focus here is betting on the precise win margin. And the accuracy needed is what makes this bet more lucrative compared to spread betting.

So, is betting on the winning margin the way to go? In this article, we’ll delve deeper into this prop, with our main focus being on college basketball.

Plus, we’ve formulated our own BestOdds standings to make it easier for you to find the best NCAAB winning margin bets.

So if you’re ready to learn more about this betting market, let’s dive in!

What Is NCAAB Winning Margin Betting?

Betting on the winning margin is a game prop that focuses on the number of points a team is expected to win by, e.g., you can bet on a team to win by 1-3 points.

To some, this may seem like betting on the favorite in a spread, but there are plenty of key differences here.

Betting sites will typically offer several points ranges for you to pick from, e.g., 1-3, 4-6, 7-9 points. It’s then up to you to select the winning team as well as the range that you think the side is going to win by.

This is the main catch here; you’re restricted to the range that you select, so if the team wins by more or fewer points, your wager will be scored as a loss by the bookie.

For example, let’s say you back the Houston Cougars to beat the Alabama Crimson Tide by 4-6 points. Houston’s victory has to be within this margin for the bet to land.

This means that scores like 70-66, 70-64, 70-65, etc., in favor of Houston will be enough to win this wager, given that the points difference between the two teams here in all scorelines falls between 3-6 points.

But suppose Houston wins 70-60. Will your bet be graded as a win? Well, in this scenario, the team’s margin of victory will have exceeded your prediction (3-6 points), so this betting ticket will sadly be a losing one.

And even if the Cougars had won by one point, your bet would still have been a loss as it wouldn’t have been within the 4-6 point range.

As you can see, accuracy is the main factor here, but the reward is that winning margin bets usually come with highly favorable odds.

In comparison, point spreads that focus on favorites typically have no upper limit, i.e., the team can win by as many points as possible and still cover the spread.

Also, point spreads come with lower odds, as their odds usually hover around -110. With winning margin bets, you can expect higher odds.

If you enjoy betting on NCAAB Winning Margin, you’ll probably enjoy our NBA Winning Margin stats page as well.

How Does NCAAB Winning Margin Betting Work?

As we’ve stated, the core focus with NCAAB winning margin bets is on a team’s victory margin.

These bets come with various point ranges, the most common ones being 1-5, 6-10, 11-15, etc., up to 31+. So you simply choose the range that you expect the team to win by.

For instance, if you think that your local college basketball team will win by 2 points, you’ll pick the 1-5 point range when placing this bet. For the wager to win, the team must win by 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 points.

This means that scores like 70-69, 70-68, 70-67, 70-66, and 70-65 will all grant you a winning betting ticket. Any winning margin higher than this would mean that your prediction was inaccurate, and thus your bet would be settled as a loss.

If you fancy your betting chops, you can go for more restrictive ranges, e.g., 1-2 points, 3-4 points, etc. Since a higher level of accuracy is required here, the odds will be higher than lines offering more leeway.

The exact range offered is different from sportsbook to sportsbook, so you’ll need to keep this in mind when line shopping (more on that later).

So if you want a better chance of winning at slightly lower odds, go for ranges offering you more flexibility. If you prefer greater odds, choose the tighter lines.

You may also see a range that isn’t capped, e.g., 31+. Here, as long as the margin of victory is at least 31 points, you’ll win this wager. And since there is no upper limit, you won’t have to worry about your team scoring too much.

Needless to say, you should only go for such high points margins when you’re expecting a blowout victory.

How NCAAB Winning Margin Odds Work

Like most wagers, there should be a favorite and an underdog in winning margin wagers, with the less favored team boasting the better odds.

Still, since such wagers rely on high levels of accuracy, you can expect at least odds of +100 on each side of the bet.

Here’s an example showing the prices that bookies typically offer with such wagers.

Winning MarginArkansas State’s OddsTroy’s Odds
To Win By 1-5 Points+550+425
To Win By 6-10 Points+900+280
To Win By 11-15 Points+2000+350
To Win By 16-20 Points+4000+550
To Win By 21-25 Points+7000+1000
To Win By 26+ Points+9000+950

From the above odds, you can easily tell that Troy is the favored team in the bookies’ eyes, given that the team’s odds are lower compared to Arkansas State’s in all ranges.

If you think that Troy will emerge victorious and win by 1-5 points, you can back them at odds of +425. So if you bet $10 at these odds, you can expect to win $42.5.

On the other hand, if you want to go against the grain and back Arkansas state to win by 1-5 points, you’ll win $55 if you were to risk the same $10.

Clearly, compared to point spreads, winning margin wagers boast higher, better odds.

Using The BestOdds.com NCAAB Winning Margin Table

If you’re interested in NCAAB winning margin betting but don’t know where to start, we have the perfect assistance.

Our BestOdds table covers this market in great depth, showing you how college basketball teams regularly fare when it comes to winning by certain margins.

The table starts from the 1-5 range and goes all the way to 26+. As expected, the two most common winning margins in college basketball are between 1-5 and 6-10 points.

The table can even be tweaked further depending on what you want to bet on. You can search for specific teams and see the team’s most common winning/losing margin.

Furthermore, you can filter by home/away to see the team’s winning margin at home compared to games on the road, thus gaining further insight before placing a wager.

NCAAB Winning Margin Betting Strategies

Before you place any NCAAB winning margin wagers, you first need to implement a few tricks and strategies to boost your chances of success. Here are a few that we highly recommend:

  • Use The Spread To Your Advantage: Check the spread and see how many points separate the two teams. This will give you an idea of how many points the bookies expect the favorite to win by.
  • Consider Other Factors: A few things that you should consider include a team’s travel schedule, home/away record, recent form, upcoming games, and past performances between both competing teams.
  • Limit Your Stakes: Remember that this is a prop, and such bets have lower chances of landing compared to conventional wagers. Plus, winning margin wagers boast high odds to start with, so you can still win something substantial even when placing such bets with smaller stakes.
  • Shop Around For The Best Odds: If you want to squeeze as much value as possible from your wagers, consider shopping around. Doing so will give you a leg up by guaranteeing that you’ll consistently get the best odds and lines.

What Are Some Variations Of This Bet?

Winning margin wagers come in multiple variations. Some sportsbooks offer winning margin wagers for specific halves; that way, you won’t have to stick around for an entire NCAAB game.

Also, you may be able to switch from a 7-way bet to a 14-way bet, thus increasing your number of betting options.

At some books, it’s even possible to bet on the exact winning margin. Here, instead of being given a range of points, you choose the precise number of points that the winning team will win by.

E.g., you can bet that Baylor will win by 7 points. If they win by more or fewer points, your wager will lose.

Also, it’s worth stating that some sportsbooks have different names for this wager, with some calling it “margin of victory” betting. So don’t be confused if you see another term for this wager.

Shop Around

Shopping around gives you access to the best odds and lines.

The thought behind this is that since sportsbooks operate independently, with most offering different odds and lines, there’s bound to be a large discrepancy in how they price individual events.

This presents an excellent opportunity for bettors who use different sportsbooks to compare and contrast the odds on offer and go for the site offering the best value — the same principle that many people use when shopping online for goods or tickets.

Let’s use a real-life example from a recent game to illustrate this:

BetBetMGMDraftKingsFanDuel
Troy To Win By 6-10 Points+360+390+420

The same bet (Troy to win by 6-10 points) is priced differently at various sportsbooks.

If you were to risk $100 at each site, you’d potentially get $360 from BetMGM, $390 from DraftKings, and a whopping $420 from FanDuel.

Compared to the other sites, FanDuel clearly offers the best odds for this wager. And the only way for you to guarantee this is by checking and comparing the odds at different sportsbooks.

For instance, if BetMGM is your primary sportsbook and you decided not to shop around, you’d have lost out on as much as $60 from a $100 bet from our above real-life example.

So if you’re in this for the long run, the best betting tactic for you to implement is line shopping.

Looking for more stats? Check out the NCAAB Second Half ATS stats for betting.

Author

About the author

Placed his first sports wager shortly after high school, and has been involved in this whirlwind of the industry since then. Fan of most of the major ...

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