Ice hockey is known for its aggressive physicality, making it top ice-based sport and one of the most thrilling team sports to bet on. If you’re interested in trying out ice hockey betting, you’ve come to the right spot, where we’ll guide you through the various types of bets for hockey, offering plenty of tips and strategies to boost your chances of success.
With numerous hockey competitions to choose from, we’ll break down each one, ensuring you’re ready to navigate the exciting world of ice hockey betting.
Top Ice hockey competitions
Ice hockey is a super popular sport played all around the world. With many leagues, competitions and superstar players, ice hockey has a huge fan base consisting of millions of fans. While not covering every ice hockey competition, let’s look into some of the prime tournaments, especially for ice hockey betting enthusiasts, both in Europe and internationally.
National hockey league
NHL is the major ice hockey league with the most fans, prestige and betting action. This is the place where all the superstars from primary USA and Canada. The NHL season kicks off in October and continues through April, featuring a total of 32 teams engaging in 82 matches each.
Following the regular season, the top 16 teams advance to the playoffs, where they compete for the Stanley Cup – ultimate prize awarded to the playoff champion each season.
Every ice hockey betting site provides odds for the NHL, making it the most accessible competition for betting opportunities.
Kontinental hockey league
KHL is a successful alternative to the NHL situated in another continent, which was founded in 2008. With 23 clubs spread across Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and China, the KHL is the second-strongest ice hockey league globally, following the NHL.
Each team is fighting for The Gagarin Cup in playoffs, and the title of Champion of Russia is given to the top-ranked Russian team.
Winter olympics
Ice hockey tournaments have been included in the Olympic Games since 1920, initially featured in the men’s competition during the Summer Olympics. The sport transitioned to the Winter Olympics, witnessing Canada’s dominance in gold medals from 1920 to 1952, with only one exception.
From 1956 to 1988, the Soviet Union took charge, occasionally interrupted by victories from the United States. Since 1994, the competition has become more unpredictable, with recent success stories including Sweden, the Czech Republic, Canada, and Finland.
How-to bet on ice hockey?
Placing an ice hockey bet follows the same process as other sports bets. Check out this simple guide that includes steps from choosing an ice hockey betting site to placing your bet.
- Select one of the ice hockey betting sites:
Begin by choosing a reputable betting platform offering ice hockey markets. Look for a user-friendly interface with positive reviews and favorable odds for ice hockey betting. Explore welcome bonuses or promotions to kickstart your journey.
- Create your account:
Once you’ve picked the best ice hockey betting site, sign up by providing basic information and creating a username and password. Some sites may request additional details for security. Use a secure password and keep your account information confidential. The registration process typically takes just a few minutes.
- Make a deposit:
Login with your credentials, head to the payment section, and choose your preferred deposit method. Ensure the deposited amount exceeds the allowed minimum, with the typical minimum deposit being $10 in most ice hockey betting sites.
- Place ice hockey bet:
Explore the ice hockey events and markets on the betting site, including match winners, totals or handicaps. Before confirming your bet, we recommend checking ice hockey betting tips to enhance your chances of winning. When ready to bet, select your market, enter wager and confirm it.
Hockey betting bet types
Along with single pre-match betting, ice hockey offers some additional bet types you can wage your money on:
Inplay or LIVE hockey bets
Betting on ice hockey live means placing bets on matches as they happen – are already started. It lets you see how each team is doing in real-time and decide the best bet to make reacting to the ongoing action.
Once a hockey match begins, it moves from pre-match to the live betting area, and a timer shows how long the game’s been on. Even odds change during the game based on the time and how each team is playing. Plus, you get live updates on the game, helping you make a smart betting choice.
Accumulators
When most of the top ice hockey league seasons are in full swing, there’s always numerous hockey games to bet each day. In this scenario, you can bet on all of them in a single betslip, known as accumulator. In accumulator or combo hockey betting, you can select as many events as you like, increasing overall betslip odds and locking huge winnings.
However, if you want your hockey parlay to win – all selections need to be successful. If even one of them loses, you will forfeit your whole bet.
Imagine you select three separate money line events in accumulator:
- Philadelphia Flyers Win: odds 2.00
- Buffalo Sabres Win: odds 3.00
- Pittsburgh Penguins Win: odds 2.50
Your overall odds will be 15.00, and with a $100 bet you’ll get $1500 winnings.
Most popular Ice hockey betting markets
There can be thousands of betting options for ice hockey betting. But only a few of them stand out as the most popular among bettors. These markets gain popularity due to their simplicity and ease of understanding, making them more accessible to a broader audience.
1X2 (threeway) bet
This is the most popular betting market and simplest way to wager on hockey. You just choose which team you think will win the game (like in the moneyline betting example above). Each team is given odds that show how likely they are to win.
1X2 market offers three outcomes: either one of the team wins or match will end in draw:
- 1 – 1st team win
- X – tie
- 2 – 2nd team win.
It’s important to mention that this market does not consider overtime or penalties. If you place a bet on the first team to win and the match ends in a draw, your bet on the first team winning will be a loss because the match concluded in a draw.
Total
Total is simply a bet on how many goals both teams score in a game. Bookies usually set the line at 5.5 goals, and you just decide if the goal count will be over or under than your expected total during the match. The result can only be more or less since you can’t have half a goal.
Bettors claim that the total markets are quite predictable compared to predicting winner or final score, because goal counts depend heavily on previous statistics and player form
There are many variations of Total offers:
- Total including overtime and penalties
- Total in 1st, 2nd, 3rd period
- 1st team or 2nd team Total
Handicap
Ice hockey handicap or spread betting is basically placing bets on how much a team will win or lose by. In this market offer you see negative odds for favorite and positive for underdog and the number means given advantage to one of the teams.
Placing bet on favorite means team must win by more than spread bet goal count, while supporting underdog – team have to win the match or lose by less than handicap goal count.
Let’s look at example – Columbus Blue Jackets handicap (+1.5):
In order for you to win this selection, Jackets need to either win the match or lose by no more than one goal. If match ends in a tie, you still will win, because +1.5 is given advantage to the team.
Ice hockey betting tips
If you’re into ice hockey betting, there are some simple tips to keep in mind. Main key is to outsmart the bookmaker and grab the best odds available together with best ice hockey betting predictions.
Only the best hockey betting odds
Repeat this as your daily mantra for ice hockey betting! Shopping around for the highest ice hockey bet odds can raise your winnings big time. With highest odds, you ensure that you maximize your returns, putting more money in your pocket when your ice hockey bets end successfully. Keep an eye on various bookmakers and compare offers on a daily basis.
Check ice hockey betting predictions
Getting the best ice hockey predictions is a valuable item in your betting strategy. Hockey expert insights and tips will make you make more informed decisions when placing your bets.
By constantly checking reputable sources for ice hockey predictions, you will gain top insights into team dynamics, player performances, and potential game outcomes..
FAQ
UK bettors have access to a wide range of ice hockey bets, leagues and hundreds of betting markets.
There are numerous new betting sites that provide odds on almost every hockey game there is. We provide only the safest ones, so check them here.
Before placing a bet, do your research on teams, players, statistics and recent results to get the big bang on favorable hockey odds.
No problem, only if your bookmaker allows it. Using cashout you can buy out already placed bets and score winnings even before the end of the match.
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