Since basketball is such a new sport, we can assume that betting on the game came alongside its invention. There isn’t an exact date as to when people started betting on basketball, but the sport has been a staple at sports books all over the world. With the increase in legalization of sports betting in the United States, the popularity of betting on the NBA will only rise.
Today, March Madness is one of the premier American sporting events on the calendar, alongside the Triple Crown of horse racing, the World Series, and of course, the Super Bowl. The NBA hasn’t shied away from sports betting as other leagues have, and was one of the first to introduce corporate sponsors like DraftKings.
The NBA has come out and stated that it wants to partner with every sports book in the United States, so the league is definitely serious about embracing online sports betting.