NHL Hockey Gambling in Canada 2015

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For as long as there has been sport, there have been people willing to bet on it. Many sports fans, us included, can’t even enjoy a game unless they have a bet on it. Some see this as a sign of gambling addiction, we see it as a sign of someone who loves sports and wants to use their expertise and knowledge of that sport to make some money — although we would say that. Maybe we have a gambling addiction after all.

Each sport has its own rules when it comes to betting, as each one is different from the last. When it comes to soccer, for instance, you can often simply bet on the Win/Draw/Lose market, due to the fact that more often than not, the teams are evenly matched and each of these options comes with a price close enough to Evens to make it worth your while. As far as sports like football, basketball and rugby are concerned, you’ll need to bet on the spread to get a value close to Evens. This is not just because of the difference between the teams playing, but also because so many points are scored in these games and they are also scored more often. If an entire half goes your way in soccer, for instance, you can still go in the tunnel at half-time at 0-0, but if an entire half goes your way in football, the chances are you’ll be ahead by 20+ points.

Hockey is somewhere between these two. It is a fast-paced game and the frequency of the scoring is somewhat on par with football as opposed to soccer, but the fact that the teams only get 1 point per goal, with only one way to score (basketball, football and rugby all have multiple ways to earn points) means it is more in line with soccer. Still, there is a spread, also known as a “handicap”.

If you want to bet on a straight-up win, then you need to focus on what is known as the “Money Line”. If, however, you want slightly better odds, then you need to focus on the handicap or spread. This will often be in the form of +/- 1,5, +/- 2,5, etc., depending on the odds required and the differences in ability between the two teams. If you back a team with a +2,5 handicap, then what this means is that they effectively begin the game with a hypothetical 2,5 goal lead. So, if they get beat 3-0, 4-1, etc., then you lose. If, however, they win the game, draw the game or lose by 1 or 2 goals, then you win the bet. The same goes with the minus option, only here the team will begin the game behind in points, and will need to win by a certain amount, similar to the above equation.

This is the most common way to bet on hockey, but the issue that you have here is that the majority of the bets you will be placing will be for Even odds, or thereabouts. You can increase the handicap if you want a little more, but there are other options as well. One of our favorites is to create an accumulator, whereby you can still use the Even odds for single games, but you can increase your total earnings by adding more games to the mix. The more games you add, the higher your odds will be. Many accumulators are created by adding the odds together and then adding an additional sum, which is to say that by betting $10 on an accumulator for two sides to win, you will make more money than if you bet $10 on one of those sides to win, and then placed your winnings on the other match once the first one had finished.

Other ways to get better odds from gambling on hockey games is to aim for the “correct score” market. This is difficult, as the games are so quick and there can be many changes to the score, but the odds reflect that difficulty and typically you will be looking at over 15/1 for all bets, with many of them being over 25/1. A typical 0-0 guess might return you 50/1, whilst 3-0 for the favorite will probably give you between 20/1 and 25/1. If you know your stuff and are confident of getting it right, then go for it, but you’d probably be better off if you split your stake between two or three bets, instead of lumping it on a single bet.

Other bets include total goals scored, which typically look liked Over 5.5, Under 5.5, etc., and markets that allow the gambler to bet on how many goals will be scored in any given period, which team will score the most in any given period, and many more. How you bet is entirely up to you, but the more you know about the game then the more you stand to win, so try to pay attention to the player news, the team news and anything else you can get your hands on.