Five Days of Christmas Betting: Day 2 NBA Christmas Betting Strategies

The tradition of professional basketball being played on Christmas can trace it’s roots back to 1947 when the New York Knicks defeated the Providence Steamrollers 89-75. We’ve had NBA games to enjoy ever year on Christmas since, and this year is no different as five great matchups take place throughout the day and into the evening.

Open up some presents, pour yourself a drink, pretend to listen to that one family member, and follow our advice to make some money on Christmas Day this year betting on the NBA. Although odds on the games aren’t out yet, we’ve put together three foolproof betting strategies for you to use no matter what the lines are. When the odds do come out, you can find them up to date with our NBA live odds comparison tool. It shows the up to date odds across all of the biggest sportsbooks so you can be sure you’re getting the most favorable lines.

Take the Under

Don’t even look who’s playing first, don’t check who’s healthy or available, I don’t care if it’s a finals rematch or how many points were scored when they last played, take the under. It’s really that easy. Take the under and there’s a very good chance that you’ll come out ahead.

If you took every under on Christmas day starting back in 2007 you would finish Christmas day with more cash than you started 13 out of 14 times. This year should be no different with the NBA’s new foul rules that have significantly lowered per game scoring averages. In fact, per game scoring is at it’s lowest point since 2018. This won’t magically change on Christmas day this year.

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Hit Second Half Unders Hard

I know I just said to take unders so of course it makes sense to take second half unders right? Well there’s actually quite a big difference between the numbers if you plan on betting the under in the first half vs. the second. First half Christmas Day unders are 28-27-1 (51%) since 2005. In that same timeframe second half unders are 37-18-1 (67%). Big difference right?

This mainly has to do with the atmosphere and aura of a Christmas Day game. These game feel more like a playoff game than a random game in the front half of the season. Because of this teams and players dig deep and give it their all on the defensive side of the court. This leads to less points being scored, and more second half unders hitting.

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Ignore the Public

Christmas Day is one of the biggest days for NBA viewership in the regular season. However, many of the people viewing these games aren’t the biggest NBA fans and don’t have the greatest knowledge about the league, its teams, or it players. The same can be said about a big portion of those betting on Christmas Day games. Because of this, one of the best strategies you can take on the 25th is to ignore the public, it’s what Jesus would’ve wanted you to do on his birthday.

Teams who receive less than 50% of the bets on their spread have gone 33-21 against the spread in Christmas Day matchups since 2005. If you ignored everything else but this you’d be finishing the holiday with a good chunk of change in nine of the last 13 seasons.

There you have it. Three great strategies you can employ to make it big this Christmas. For even more tips on betting the NBA, check out our NBA Betting Tips Page .