How to bet on the 2024 FIBA World Cup

The FIBA World Cup is almost upon us, with the tournament set to kick off on the 25th of August across the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia. Capturing the imagination of the basketball world over more than two weeks, this tournament will also attract plenty of punters, and on this page we’ll tell you everything that you need to know about betting on the FIBA World Cup 2023. 

The FIBA World Cup was first held way back in 1950 in Argentina, in a tournament in which just ten teams competed. Since then it’s been held every four years (with a couple of exception when five years passed between drinks), meaning the 2023 edition will be the 19th time the FIBA Basketball World Cup has been held. 
 
A truly global event, it’s been held all over the globe; after taking place predominantly in South America in its early years, it’s now held multiple times in Europe, North America and Asia. 
 
In 18 editions of the tournament, six teams have saluted, though nearly half of those victories have gone to nations which now no longer exist. Yugoslavia is one of them, having won five – the equal most alongside the United States of America. The Soviet Union is third with three, while Brazil and Spain have won it twice apiece and Argentina once. 
 
The tournament has gradually grown over the years, consistently adding more teams to the league. The most recent tournament 2018 saw 32 teams compete for the first time after that number had sat at 24 for the previous three incarnations of the event. 
 
There has also been a FIBA World Cup women’s since way back in 1953, a lot longer than many sports have had major international women events for. The FIBA World Cup women’s been dominated by the USA, who have won 11 times, while the Soviet Union won five times. No one else has won it multiple times. 

The FIBA World Cup 2023 will be the 19th edition of the event, and will see 32 FIBA World Cup teams descend upon Asia for the chance to hold aloft the biggest trophy in international basketball. The 32 teams will be split into eight groups of four, with each team in each group playing the three others in their groups. At the conclusion of the Group Stage, the top two sides in each will advance to the Second Round. 
 
In the Second Round, teams will again be split into groups of four, this time four of them. These Groups will consist of the two advancing teams from two different groups, and each team will play the two others in their group who weren’t in their group in the Group Stage. At the conclusion of these games, the top two will again advance to the quarterfinals, after which it will be a knockout tournament. 
 
The tournament will take place across five different stadiums; three in the Philippines, one in Indonesia and one in Japan. The FIBA World Cup schedule has the Final set to take place on the 10th of September at 8.40pm local time. 

With the FIBA World Cup set to draw so many of the best players from around the globe to one tournament, there will unsurprisingly be plenty of interest in it, and as always this will translate to punting too. Plenty of people will be looking to bet on the 2023 FIBA World Cup, but there are a few specific things you should take into consideration before deciding upon the best site for you. 
 
Firstly, take a look at how many different markets there are for the FIBA World Cup. Some might just have the regulars like head to head, sometimes only for the bigger games. In contrast, others will have a huge range of markets for every single game, from the regulars to things like player props, while you’ll also be able to bet on futures like how far a certain team will advance. As an example, take a look at the screenshot from Unibet Australia below. 

This is for an upcoming NBA Finals game rather than the FIBA World Cup because detailed match odds aren’t yet out for that event, but it is an example of how many markets you can get on the best betting sites. As you can see to the right of the odds, there are 358 extra markets for that NBA game, and you’ll likely find similar on big FIBA World Cup matches.  

Another obvious thing to consider is the FIBA World Cup betting odds. These will vary from site to site, and while there will be similarities in terms of who is a favourite in specific games, there will be some variance in the odds you can get, particularly for the less popular FIBA World Cup betting markets. 

Also consider things like the FIBA World Cup payment methods available to you, the presence of a functional mobile app, how the desktop site of the bookmaker you’re looking at works, and whether they have good customer support. Once you’ve done that, you’ll have a pretty comprehensive view about the best FIBA World Cup betting sites. To save you on a bit of research, we’ve taken a look at some of your best options below. 

Looking to place a bet on the 2023 FIBA basketball World Cup? You’re going to have no shortage of options, and in this section we’ll talk about some of the different markets that you’ll be able to find for this tournament. 

Moneyline 

This is the simplest way to bet on any two-team sporting event, and it will be no different for the FIBA World Cup 2023. The moneyline simply refers to the head to head odds, with bookmakers giving each team odds based on their likelihood of winning. Your job is to determine which team’s odds present the best value. This market will be available with every betting site that has FIBA World Cup betting odds.  

 Line 

Line bets are another very common basketball betting markets, and one which you’ll find with every betting agency which offers FIBA Basketball World Cup betting markets. Unlike the moneyline, in which the two teams have very different odds, the line bets see bookmakers give a head start to one particular team, and then offering even money for both teams.  

For example, a line of -9.5 means that the team in question needs to win by 10 or more points to win this bet, while +9.5 means your team needs to either win or lose by less than nine points. 

Total points 

Total points markets over a way for punters to bet on the total points scored in a game, rather than on a particular team. Betting sites will set a line for this market – this could be, for example, 161.5 points. That means for the over to hit, you need 162 points or more, while 161 or less will see the under triumph. Generally the odds for over and under will be roughly the same.  

Player performance 

Player performance is one of my favourite ways to bet, but how many markets you get will depend on the betting site. Some will offer a wide range of different player performance markets with decent odds, while others will have very few, if any at all, and sometimes with pretty bad odds. 

The most typical player performance markets you’ll see for the FIBA World Cup will be player points, player rebounds and player assists. Each player will have an over/under total you can bet on, but with some betting sites you’ll also be able to bet on them to score X points – for example, to score 15+ points, 20+ points, 25+ points and so on. 

Quarter/half markets 

If you want to bet on just a segment of a game at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023, you’ll also be able to do that at most betting sites. This can come in a few forms; you might bet the line or moneyline for the first quarter, or for the first half, or you can bet on which team will be winning at the conclusion of either each quarter, or each half. 

Looking for a more dynamic way to bet on the FIBA Basketball World Cup? Live betting could be the way to go. Instead of simply betting on the markets outlined in the above section prior to each game starting, live betting provides a whole different way to get involved in the tournament. 

With live betting, certain betting sites provide various markets for events after they’ve already begun. For the FIBA World Cup, this means that you’ll be able to bet on certain outcomes happening during the game while you’re watching it.  

Live betting odds change based on what’s going on in the game, so this way of betting requires you to be pretty on the ball and keeping a close eye on FIBA live scores. The odds for the moneyline, for example, will change with every basket (or missed basket) to reflect the changing likelihood of the final outcome, so the FIBA live basketball scores have a big impact on the odds. The same applies for the line, points total and more. 

The number of live betting markets on the FIBA Basketball World Cup depends on which betting agency you are using. Some don’t offer it at all, while of those that do offer it the quality of offering can be pretty varied. Some will only have a fairly select few markets and the odds might not be great, while others will have a really good selection. Bear in mind that the bookmakers take a greater margin from live betting odds than pre-event odds, so you’ll notice that the odds might be a bit inferior to what you’re used to. 

Most big bookmakers will have various promotions at different points, a common time for them to do just that is prior to a major sporting tournament, which the FIBA World Cup is. With many people looking to bet on the FIBA Basketball World Cup in Australia, betting sites are competing against one another to attract new customers. Bonuses and promotions are a good way to do that.  

There are a lot of different rules and regulations around these bonuses in Australia so all the different bonuses on the FIBA World Cup which you can find can’t be written about, but we can let you know some examples that you might find.  

One of the most common types of promotions for FIBA betting sites will come in the fact of money back for same-game multis. Not every bookmaker offers same-game multis, but for those who do it’s pretty common to have promos around your stake back as a bonus if you get one leg wrong in a multi of a certain number of legs. If you lose your bet but get this money back, it’s a good way to get a free bet on the FIBA World Cup.  

Other betting sites might offer early payouts on head to head if your team is leading by a certain amount at half time. This isn’t particularly common and is usually capped at a certain amount, but it can still be a valuable way to get a little leg up if used correctly.  

Most FIBA World Cup betting sites won’t put up World Cup promotions until just before it starts, so keep an eye out on a few different bookies to see which ones have them available. 

Betting apps have become really popular over recent years, with their streamlined layouts and ability to access them quickly and easily on a mobile making them, in many cases, an easier platform from which to bet than the actual desktop sites. 
 
Of course, this isn’t the case with every bookmaker. In fact, not all of them even have betting apps yet, and among those that do the quality varies pretty significantly. Some are really slow and will lag a lot while others are terrific and make betting easy – almost too easy at times! 
 
In terms of FIBA betting sites, your options for finding the best betting app for the FIBA Basketball World Cup will be much the same as your options for the best betting apps in general. Any betting site that we recommend as having one of the best apps will no doubt have markets on the FIBA Basketball World Cup, so take a look at our full list of the best betting apps in Australia for some tips on which ones to take a look at. 

Some suggestions for the best betting apps to use for the FIBA World Cup are: 

• PlayUp 
• Dabble 
• BoomBet 
• Bet365 
• BlueBet 
• Unibet Australia