How to bet LSU vs. Iowa: Sports betting basics, sportsbook promos, odds & more

Looking to bet on LSU vs. Iowa in the NCAA Tournament tonight but don’t know where to start? We’ve got you covered.

Below, we’ll cover the game’s odds, what they mean, where you can legally bet on this game, and sportsbook promos to take advantage of.

LSU vs. Iowa odds & how to read them

Sportsbooks offer hundreds of bet types for NBA and NFL games, but for women’s college basketball, you’ll get the three main markets — spread, moneyline and over/under — and then maybe some props, depending on your state.

Here’s how it will look at FanDuel. The spread has two parts — the actual number (+1.5 and -1.5 in this case) and the odds (-106 and -114), which is what your bet will pay.

Spread: The spread is a bet on the margin of victory. Iowa is -1.5 against LSU, which means they’re a 1.5-point favorite. They have to win by 2+ for you to win that bet. If you bet on LSU at +1.5, they can either win the game, or lose by 1.

Below each spread are the odds of that bet. You can read more about how to calculate the payouts, but the sportsbook will do it for you once you click on that bet cell and add a bet amount. If I wanted to win $10 on Iowa -1.5, I’d have to wager $11.40. If I wanted to win $10 on LSU +1.5, I’d have to wager $10.60.

That’s because American odds are centered around wagering or winning $100. If there’s a minus sign in front, you have to wager more than $100 to win that amount — so -114 means $114 will win $100, and -106 means $106 will win $100. A plus sign indicates you’ll win more than $100 — so +106 will win you $106 in profit off a $100 wager.

Of course, you don’t have to wager $100, but that’s how the odds are presented.

Moneyline: This is just a bet on who will win the game, with no margin of victory factored in. The odds work the same way they do on a point spread — at +106, a $100 bet pays $106. At -130 on Iowa, a $130 bet pays $100.

Total: Also known as the over/under, this is a bet on the total number of points scored by both teams combined. So if you bet over 167.5, there will need to be 168 points scored for you to win the bet. If you bet the under, you’ll win the bet if 167 points or fewer are scored.

Where is sports betting legal?

Sports betting is legal in close to 40 states, but true online betting is available in fewer.

I’d bucket legal sports betting into three main categories:

• Competitive online markets with multiple operators: States like New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and about 15 others have multiple sportsbooks, and users can sign up online.
• Single-operator online markets: Places like Oregon, Washington D.C., Rhode Island and New Hampshire all have online betting, but there’s only one sportsbook. DraftKings has a monopoly in Oregon and NH; soon, FanDuel will be the lone provider in Washington D.C.
• In-person only: Some states allow only in-person betting at casinos and retail sportsbooks. In Nevada, you can bet on your phone, but only after signing up in person.

Here’s a handy map of where online betting is available:

If you don’t have online betting in your state you can sign up with a DFS site like PrizePicks, which allows you to select player statistics on women’s NCAA Tournament games and tie them together for bigger payouts.

Sports betting promos usable on LSU-Iowa

Sportsbooks sometimes hook their new-user offers around a particular game, but rarely, if ever, do they only offer something for one game. For the Super Bowl even, they may raise their standard offer in the two weeks leading up to it, but you can use that offer on any game or sport.

There are a few different types of sportsbook promos for new users, including:

Bet/gets: These offers involve a small deposit (usually $10), a small bet (usually $5 or $10), and then you’ll get bonus bets. The bonus bets are like a credit in which you keep any profit from those wagers, but not the stake of the bet itself.

First bet insurance: Every sportsbook has a different name for this, and the max will usually be pretty high — anywhere from $250 to $1,500.

Deposit match: Whatever you put in, the sportsbook will match in bonus bets or some kind of cashback. But deposit matches almost always come with a play-through requirement — BetMGM for example requires you to wager 10x your bonus amount in your first 30 days on the platform or you forfeit the bonuses you did earn.

Here are some sportsbook offers you can claim ahead of LSU-Iowa, depending on your state: