The best college basketball betting sites and apps run everything from traditional March Madness bracket contests to regular-season game lines. March Madness may be the biggest event in sports betting, but these online sportsbooks have NCAA basketball betting covered all year long.
Here’s a look at what the best Kentucky sports betting apps offer for college basketball betting. We include a complete guide to using a college basketball betting app and how you can take advantage of the many college basketball betting promotions each one has up for grabs during March Madness and beyond.
Top Kentucky college basketball betting apps 2023
DraftKings KY Sportsbook
DraftKings Sportsbook KY has the market cornered when it comes to live NCAA basketball betting options. There’s truly that much variety. Plus, DK offers up a ton of college basketball bets before games too. College basketball betting lines at DraftKings include:
- Game spreads, moneylines, totals
- Player props
- NCAA tournament futures
- Conference championship futures
DraftKings Sportsbook also typically runs some kind of massive free March Madness bracket contest. It ran something of an anti-bracket contest in 2023 with the $100,000 DraftKings Sportsbook Zero Right Bracket Challenge. This free contest gave the worst brackets a chance at $100,000. You got points every time a team you picked advanced, but instead of awarding prizes to the entries with the most points, this contest rewarded those with the least. At the end of the tournament, the entries with the lowest total score split up the $100,000.
Past DraftKings Sportsbooks college basketball promos have also included up to 40-1 odds boosts. In short, there’s more college basketball betting value to be found at DraftKings Sportsbook than at its chief competitors.
Check here for the latest DraftKings Kentucky promo code.
FanDuel KY Sportsbook
FanDuel Sportsbook KY is widely known for having the most accurate and competitive NCAA basketball futures odds available. All the game lines and props are also here, including:
- Game spreads, moneylines, totals
- Player props
- March Madness futures
- Conference championship futures
FanDuel Sportsbook also runs a massive, free-to-enter March Madness bracket contest every year. In 2023, Bracket Pick ‘Em presented by FanDuel and SeatGeek was a less-than-traditional bracket contest where players selected five teams in the tournament with the sum of the seeds adding up to 20 or more.
Points were then awarded to entries based on tournament games won by their selections, with point values increasing in later rounds. Everyone who earned 400 or more points got a FanDuel contest voucher. Those with 2,500 or more shared $20,000 in cash and the entry with the most points won a $5,000 Grand Prize.
You’ll also find odds boosts and other promos throughout the season at FanDuel. Add it all up and there’s tremendous value in betting college hoops here.
Check here for the latest FanDuel Kentucky promo code.
Caesars KY Sportsbook
Caesars Sportsbook KY is often half-a-point better on college basketball spreads and offers up more value on the college basketball moneyline than DraftKings, FanDuel and BetMGM. College basketball game lines and futures on the platform include:
- Game spreads, moneylines, totals
- Player props
- March Madness futures
- Regular-season team win totals
College basketball promos at Caesars have previously included odds boosts and a Bet $20, Get $200 March Madness promo. That means there’s value to be found here even if there isn’t a traditional free March Madness bracket contest at Caesars.
Check for the latest Caesars Sportsbook Kentucky promo code.
BetMGM KY Sportsbook
BetMGM Sportsbook KY offers competitive college basketball lines and futures odds that include:
- One game parlays
- Player stat props
- Live odds
- Final Four odds
The odds are comparable to what you’ll find at competitors like DraftKings, FanDuel and Caesars. Plus, BetMGM ran a $10 Million Perfect Bracket Challenge contest again in 2023. It offered up $10 million for the perfect bracket and paid out $100,000 to the best bracket. This book also offers bonus bets on what it calls “One Game Parlays” (or SGPs) throughout the year.
See the current BetMGM Kentucky promo code.
Using a college basketball betting app in KY
Here’s how to get a college basketball betting app on your phone or tablet in three clicks:
| iOS Instructions | Android Instructions |
|---|---|
| - Click our link to the sportsbook of your choice while on your iPhone or iPad. - Click the Apple download link. - Click the 'Get' button on the App Store page. | "- Click our link to the sportsbook of your choice while on your Android phone or tablet. - Click the Android download link. - Click 'Install'." |
After that, betting on college basketball with the app will require opening an account and depositing funds. Here’s how to do that:
- Click the button on the app that says ‘Register’ or ‘Sign Up.’
- Fill out the registration forms with all required personal and account information, including your name, email, and the last four digits of your Social Security number.
- Enter the bonus code or promo code found on this page to get the best KY sportsbook bonus you can.
- Accept all terms and conditions.
- Click the button on the app that says ‘Cashier.’
- Make a deposit using available methods like online banking and PayPal.
Once you’re done with that, you’ll be ready to bet on college basketball. To do it, simply:
- Browse through the NCAA basketball lines.
- Click on the specific odds you’re interested in.
- Fill out the instantly created bet slip with the amount you want to bet.
- Add other individual bets or turn a group of bets into a parlay.
- Click the button that says ‘Place Bets’ to confirm and place your bets.
Best college basketball promotions and odds boosts
The college basketball betting apps listed above all run various promos surrounding the NCAA basketball season. Most are all about the tournament, but others can be found throughout the season. Here are the best four promos we saw running last season in no particular order:
- DraftKings Sportsbook: Bet $5, Win $200 on any college basketball game.
- FanDuel Sportsbook: Parlay insurance offering up to $25 in bonus bets when you fall one leg short on a college basketball parlay with four or more legs.
- BetMGM: Bet & Get offering a $10 live bonus bet when you bet a one game college basketball parlay.
- Caesars: March Madness Bet & Get offering up $200 wins on $20 bets during the tournament.
Can I bet on college basketball during games?
Live or in-game odds are available during college basketball games on most sportsbook apps. The odds will change based on what’s happening on the court, and you can use your favorite college basketball betting app to get a bet down. Getting these bets down before the odds change again is the key, but the speed with which these apps operate should help.
Basic college basketball bets: moneyline, spread, totals
Let’s break down the most essential bets in college basketball: moneylines, point spreads, and totals.
Spreads are about betting on games with a handicap set by sportsbooks factored into the score. You either bet on the favorite minus the spread or the underdog plus the same number of points. The addition of the spread usually means the odds on both sides are close to even.
Moneylines entail betting on game winners with no handicap. You either bet on the favorite to win the game outright or the underdog to do the same. You book either bet at the currently posted odds. While you have to lay money to win money on the favorite, you’ll get positive odds on the underdog.
Finally, totals are about betting on the teams’ combined final scores. You either bet on the final combined score landing over or under a line set by sportsbooks. The line is usually set so the odds on both sides are close to even.
How to bet college basketball props and futures
NCAA basketball futures are mostly season-long bets on teams winning a certain number of games or conquering the NCAA tournament. However, futures can also include bets on a team getting to the Final Four or winning a conference tournament. You’ll also find a market on who will win the Naismith College Player of the Year award.
These college basketball futures markets are available all year long with the odds shrinking on the favorites as the season wanes. That means the earlier you place a bet, the more you usually stand to win.
Meanwhile, player props surround individual stat lines in games. This type of betting is not available in every state, but where it is, it’s mostly about betting on points, rebounds, assists, and combinations of these stats that a player will put up in a game. A lot of player props are over/under-style bets with sportsbooks setting lines and you betting against it.
For example, back in the day, you might have bet the Over (-110) on the legendary Jamal Mashburn scoring more than 25 for the Kentucky Wildcats against the Louisville Cardinals. If he did it, you’d win $100 for every $110 bet.
Betting on March Madness
The NCAA tournament decides college basketball’s national champion. People call it March Madness because it features 32 conference tournament winners and 36 at-large teams duking it out in a single-elimination tournament over three weekends at the end of March. It’s college basketball madness, and it’s in March.
You can bet on the tournament through traditional March Madness bracket contests. Online sportsbooks host some pretty big free and paid-entry bracket contests where you do your best to pick the winner of every game ahead of the tournament. Plus, there are March Madness futures available all year long and game lines and props you can bet on for every tournament game.
Because it’s seeded, the tournament does give you some indication as to who will be favored in each game. Of course, upsets are half the fun, and they happen every single year. Do your research, and bet wisely.
Does college basketball have alternate lines?
Alternative college basketball point spreads may be available at some online sportsbook sites. These offer better odds if you give more points or improve your chances of winning and reduce the odds if you take more points.
These are often risky propositions, unless you’re incredibly confident in your read on a game. Giving away points makes a bet more difficult to win. Plus, even if taking more points improves your chances of winning, it increases your risk.
Why are the spreads missing sometimes in college basketball?
Spreads are designed to even out the odds in college basketball betting. When that can’t happen, including games where there’s an overwhelming favorite or no-chance-to-win underdog, sportsbooks may take the bet off the board altogether. The disparity between basketball teams in the NCAA means this happens in college basketball betting more than anywhere else.
College basketball public betting trends
If the public likes one team more than the other in a college basketball game, the sportsbook that takes all those bets will move the line or change the odds. Sportsbooks do this to try to make the other side more attractive, draw more betting there, and get things back to even. Sportsbooks want even betting so they can earn off the vig built into the odds instead of worrying about who wins or loses.
When you see a line move or odds change, you can take advantage of the opportunity to bet on what oddsmakers originally predicted at a better price. It’s called betting “against the public,” it might mean getting more points on an underdog against the spread, or betting at improved odds on a favorite.
If the Kentucky Wildcats are 3.5-point favorites over the Louisville Cardinals, oddsmakers are saying that Kentucky is likely to win by three or four. If the public bets big on Kentucky at DraftKings Sportsbook, it may move that line to 5.5 points. You can then bet against the public, and on what oddsmakers first predicted, by taking Louisville at +5.5.
In theory, the additional points give you an improved chance of winning. Plus, if oddsmakers are really saying Kentucky is likely to win by three or four, this bet has that covered.
