Basketball is a major sports – and sports betting – market in the Philippines. While residents are more than familiar with the NBA, the local Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) also drums up a significant amount of action from local fans and gamblers.
Filipinos can bet on the PBA through offshore online sportsbooks, as MSW online sportsbooks only offer the most basic PBA odds. Offshore, though, you can bet game-to-game, make PBA futures bets on conference winners, and place PBA prop bets throughout each contest. You can even bet within quarters themselves with full live betting support!
The PBA betting spectrum has enough to accommodate all bettors, from novice to professional. This page was created specifically for Philippines basketball fans and has information on the 2024 PBA teams, schedules, the league format, betting options, and more.
Is It Legal To Bet On The PBA Online In The Philippines?
Yes. The legal framework surrounding online sports gambling in the Philippines is interesting. This is because domestic online sportsbooks are only allowed to accept foreign players. No Filipino residents can bet with a locally based online sportsbook. They are allowed to use sportsbooks licensed and regulated offshore, which means Filipino sports fans can legally bet on Philippine Cup odds, and Commissioners' Cup odds as well as enjoy betting other leagues at legal Philippines sportsbooks with NBA betting options.
Philippine gambling laws establish that it is legal for Filipino bettors to place wagers on basketball and other sports through sanctioned operators. Any operator with a legal license that is properly regulated in their own home country is technically sanctioned under the terms of the law and therefore legal to use.
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PBA Teams For 2024
The PBA is a small league compared to others around the world. If anything, the small number of teams only helps build rapport with fans and doesn’t spread the betting thin, keeping fandom and interest high. The 12 PBA teams as of 2024 are as follows:
- Barangay Ginebra San Miguel – Ginebra San Miguel, Inc.
- Blackwater Bossing – Ever Bilena Cosmetics, Inc.
- Converge FiberXers – Converge ICT (formerly Alaska Aces)
- Magnolia Hotshots – San Miguel Pure Foods Company, Inc.
- Meralco Bolts – Manila Electric Company
- NLEX Road Warriors – Metro Pacific Investments Corp.
- NorthPort Batang Pier – Sultan 900 Capital, Inc.
- Phoenix Super LPG Fuel Masters – Phoenix Petroleum Philippines, Inc.
- Rain or Shine Elasto Painters – Asian Coatings Philippines, Inc.
- San Miguel Beermen – San Miguel Brewery, Inc.
- Terrafirma Dyip – Terrafirma Realty Development Corp.
- TNT Tropang Giga– Smart Communications
History Of The PBA
The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) was born out of the former Manila Industrial and Commercial Athletic Association (MICAA) and has established a strong presence among respected Philippines sports leagues. Early on, players were not paid much, giving the league an amateur status.
Eventually, multiple teams defected from the MICAA to form the Philippine Basketball Association in 1975. The inaugural teams were the Carrier Weathermakers, Crispa Redmanizers, Mariwasa-Noritake Porcelain Makers, Presto Ice Cream, Royal Tru-Orange, Seven-Up Uncolas, Tanduay Distillery, Toyota Comets, and the U/Tex Weavers.
Over the years, teams came and went, though they've always maintained their corporate sponsorship naming conventions. The league moved its central hub from Quezon City to Pasay. There was a bit of controversy over some players coming over to the country illegally, but these players were dispatched to the Metropolitan Basketball Association, and PBA viewership attendance declined.
The PBA saw a major pickup in 2010 with the appointment of Chito Salud as the PBA Commissioner. New teams were introduced and popularity began to surge again. The league returned to its standard three-conference format (see below) after a brief hiatus, allowing for players to compete in both international and domestic campaigns. Salud stepped down prior to the 2015-2016 season, and Chito Narvasa stepped down in December 2017. The current PBA commissioner is Willie Marcial.
2024 PBA Season Format
The Philippine Basketball Association is different from other leagues around the world when it comes to its regular season format. Whereas the NBA has a champion at the end of the season, the PBA’s overall season is divided up into three mini-seasons, called cups or "conferences." The winners of each conference do not compete for the title of a grand champion or anything like that. By the end of the third conference, there can be up to three total champions in the Philippines.
The conferences are known as the Philippine Cup, Commissioner’s Cup, and the Governors' Cup. Each cup ends with a best-of-7 series to determine the champion. There can be a Grand Slam Champion in the event of the same team winning all three conferences. There is a draft held at the end of the Governors' Cup to acquire new players from the local collegiate league.
- 2024 Philippine Cup: June 5, 2022 - TBA
- 2024 Commissioner’s Cup: TBA 2022
- 2024 Governor’s Cup: TBA 2023
The top eight teams after a single elimination round robin advance to the quarterfinals. From there, the top four advance to a best-of-5 semifinal. The 2 teams left standing face off in a best-of-7 series to determine the conference champion.
2024 PBA Betting Odds
You can currently bet on the PBA at the top Philippine sportsbook sites. However, these sites generally only include regular season PBA game odds during conference elimination rounds. For PBA futures odds, bettors typically have to wait until the start of the quarterfinals for each tournament.
2024 Philippine Cup Odds
Philippine Cup Odds - 07/27
- Point Spread: Converge Fiberexers +7.5, Talk N Text Tropang Texters -7.5
- Moneyline: Converge Fiberexers +268, Talk N Text Tropang Texters -338
- Total Points: 179.5
Philippine Cup Odds - 07/27
- Point Spread: Blackwater Elite +8.5, San Miguel Beermen -8.5
- Moneyline: Blackwater Elite +320, San Miguel Beermen -400
- Total Points: 189.5
Odds available now! Visit BetOnline Sportsbook for the most up-to-date Philippine Cup odds anywhere. BetOnline has betting lines on every single Philippine Cup game.
2024 Commissioner's Cup Odds
- The 2024 PBA Commissioner's Cup schedule is TBA. Odds will be announced/posted as soon as they're available.
2024 Governors' Cup Odds
- The 2024 PBA Governors' Cup schedule is TBA. Odds will be announced/posted as soon as they're available.
2021 PBA Philippine Cup - Recap
For the second year in a row, the coronavirus led to a significant delay in the start of the Philippine Cup conference. The 2021 PBA Philippine Cup tournament official got underway on July 16, 2021, and was suspended on August 3. The Cup resumed on September 1, 2021, and play continued through the end of the conference on October 29.
TNT Tropang Giga won the 2021 Philippine Cup Finals, defeating the Magnolia Hotshots in five games (4-1). Hotshots player Calvin Abuela won Best Player, while Mikey Williams of Tropang Giga won Finals MVP.
2021 PBA Governors' Cup - Recap
There was no betting on the Governors' Cup in 2021 due to coronavirus scheduling issues, but the league did manage to contest the 2021 iteration (although play spilled into the 2022 calendar year). The season ran from December 8, 2021 through December 26, 2021, after which play was delayed for six weeks. The Governors' Cup resumed on February 11, 2022, and concluded on April 22, 2022.
Barangay Ginebra San Miguel won the 2021 Governors' Cup championship, beating the runner-up Meralco Bolts 4-2 in the best-of-seven Governors' Cup Finals. The awards for Governors' Cup Best Player and Finals MVP both went to Barangay Ginebra point guard Scottie Thompson.
Betting On The PBA
Filipinos can find betting lines on PBA games through licensed offshore sportsbooks. There are numerous options of how to bet on the Philippine Basketball Association, including placing the following common bet types:
- Point Spread
- Straight Moneyline
- Totals (Over/Under)
- Props
- Futures
Point spread wagering involves betting on a team to win or lose by a certain amount of points. Even if you picked the right team to win, your bet can still fail if they did not cover the spread. A money line wager is betting on a team to win outright no matter the point spread. These bets are more popular amongst novice bettors. Total bets, or over/under bets, involve wagering on the total combined score at the end of the game to be higher or lower than a predetermined amount.
Other popular wagering types include props, or betting on a specific occurrence or nonoccurrence, and futures. An example of a prop bet would be betting on a specific player to score a certain number of points in the first quarter of a particular game. Futures bets are things like predicting which team will win a conference championship at the beginning of the season.
Are There Sportsbook Bonuses For PBA Betting?
Yes! Legal offshore sportsbooks for Philippine bettors give out bonuses all the time. Each site offers different sports betting bonus options, which is why we recommend joining several top operators. You can also use memberships across multiple books to get different (and often dramatically more profitable) lines on any given PBA game, which is a sort of strategic bonus in and of itself.
How Does Mobile Basketball Betting Work?
There are mobile-optimized versions of licensed offshore sportsbooks. These web-based applications are compatible with Apple, Android, Windows and Blackberry devices (among others), including smartphones and tablets. Responsive design technology maintains consistent functionality and design components no matter which screen size dimensions your particular device has. You will find the same betting lines and wagering types with your sportsbook's mobile version as you would on the desktop version.
Can I Place Live Wagers On PBA Basketball Games?
Yes! Live wagering is a notable component of licensed offshore sportsbooks. It allows you to place a wager during a game as opposed to before it begins. Live wagering basketball rules are sometimes different than the standard betting rules, and you can find a comprehensive overview of the rules in the live betting section of your sportsbook. Live bets can be placed on your computer or mobile device, so you have the utmost convenience when watching and betting on PBA action.