There are many winter sports that are popular. But without a doubt – Ice hockey is one of the most popular of them. The fact of the matter is that this sport has a lot of fans all around the world and especially in countries like Russia, Canada, and the USA. Ice hockey is a national sport in many of the northern countries of Earth.
So, it goes without saying that there are people that would want to place bets on ice hockey. If you want to bet on this sport, then you have come to the right place. This is a guide to hockey betting and you will learn some information about promotions, strategy, and the best bookies.
Main competitions
Contents
There are a few big hockey sports competitions that are worthy of attention:
The Winter Olympics hockey tournament: few people know that ice hockey was a part of the Summer Olympics back in 1920. After a while, this sport moved to the winter games back in 1924. This is a very big sign of recognition and honor for the international tournaments;
The World Cup: this is the heir to the Canada Cup and it was set back in 1998. It’s not a big surprise that Canada is the winner of the last world cup. The next world cup is slated for 2020;
The National Hockey League: this is, in fact, the biggest competition of clubs in the entire world. The NHL is an annual competition where teams from the United States and Canada compete against one another. This is the most popular form of club competition and people all around the world follow it with zest. The trophy that the teams can win in this competition goes by the name of Stanley Cup;
The Kontinental Hockey League: this is the East European-Asian version of the NHL. It’s a hockey league that features teams from Finland, Belarus, China, Russia, Kazakhstan, and teams from other countries in the area;
The European Champions Hockey League: This is the European version of the NHL. You can find teams from Sweden, Czech Republic, Russia, and other countries compete in this league;
The Domestic European Leagues: the last few were all international leagues and competitions, but there are also domestic leagues in Europe. You can find them in Slovakia, Finland, Sweden, and the Czech Republic, among others.
Most widely used types of bets
There are many different ice hockey betting markets. Below you will find some of the most popular:
3-way match result: this market is pretty straightforward and is highly popular in the continent of Europe. You can pick draw, away win, or home win. The market applies to regular time;
Handicap: the handicap betting market means that one of the teams start with an advantage over the other team. In most cases, this is the underdog. If the away team has -2.5, then this means that the game starts at 0:2.5. In order to cover this bet, the home team has to win the game by at least 3 goals;
Over/Under Overall Goals: the over/under overall goals will give you a chance to bet on the number of goals that are scored by the two teams in the game. The line will be set by the bookie. You can then pick whether the game will end over the lien or under;
Over/Under Team Goals: this is the same as the bet from above. The difference is that the over/under is for only one of the two teams;
Team to score first: this one is easy to understand. You can choose to bet on the team that you think will score first in the game;
Correct score: there are many people that look for the big wins in betting. The market of the correct score typically gives you big odds for guessing the score at the end of the game.
These are some of the most popular kinds of bets that you can make in ice hockey. However, there are also many others. You can use various betting coupons that some of the best online bookies give out.
Best websites for Ice Hockey betting
If you want to bet on ice hockey, then there are many ways in which you can do this. There are many bookies that give you this opportunity. Your goal ought to be to find a few of them that will cover the basics for what you need. So, we have made a list of the best ice hockey bookies. We used some of the following criteria in order to make the assessments:
License and reputation: Every bookie needs to have a license and a solid reputation. It’s a real danger for you to lose money while being a victim of a fraud in online gambling;
Markets and competitions: there is a big number of ice hockey events all around the world – it’s important for the betting website to have them covered. There are also various bets that you can make – it’s important for them to be covered by the website as well;
Promotions and bonuses: most online gambling websites offer some kinds of welcome bonuses and various promotions in order to entice players to bet;
Live betting: there’s also the option for you to watch the game live and place bets. This is a very important factor that we make sure to check;
Maximum bets and prices: there are many people that don’t care much about the importance of odds. The truth is that the odds matter greatly – even a very small margin can make all the difference in the world in the long run. So, the bookmakers with the best price will get an extra point in our review. There ought to be people among you that would like to place big bets. Hence, we’ve decided to also be mindful of the factor of maximum bets that are allowed;
Mobile device support: there are many people that use technology in order to bet on the go. They use tablets and phones. It goes without saying that it’s important for bookies to feature mobile device support;
Other factors: there are also other things that need to be checked out. Things like technical support and help sections and banking options are also included in the review.
We have checked out most of the online bookies that feature ice hockey as one of the betting options and we have come to the following conclusion:
Bet365
This is one of the biggest bookies when it comes to sports betting of any kind. And it’s no different for ice hockey. So, this website will give you access to a lot of different markets and ice hockey matches. Besides, Bet365 has a very good live betting console – one of the best in the industry. There are high odds and frequent promotions – and this makes Bet365 one of the best options for online betting on ice hockey.
Bet365 – To use the Live Streaming service you will need to be logged in and have a funded account or to have placed a bet in the last 24 hours.
Betway
There is a very low margin when it comes to this bookmaker. This is the reason as to why we have included Betway on our list. There are good prices for ice hockey. There are also many promotions, live betting, and support for mobile devices.
Betsafe
This is part of Betsson – a Swedish company that specializes in sports betting. Betsafe was created back in 2006. There is a wide variety of sports that you can bet on this betting platform. There is a huge selection of games for the sport of ice hockey.
William Hill
This company put its focus on popular sports in the UK back in the day. But the fact of the matter is that this company has adapted since then and now it involves ice hockey betting. There are many different kinds of markets, very high odds, and live betting. All of these things and then some, are to be found on this website.
Free Bets
There are a number of things that you can expect from the biggest bookmakers in terms of bonuses:
A free bet of up to £30 in Betway
If you’re a new customer on this website, then you can be rewarded for it with a £30 free bet. What you’ll need to do is make the first deposit with a debit card, credit card, or PayPal. You will need to place a bet of 1.75 or more on some of the sports that are offered on this website. Depending on the bet that you will make, you will get up to £30. This offer will expire in 7 days after you’ve made your deposit.
$500 in free bets at Fanduel
This website and bookie has very good promotions for the newbies. What you need to do for this bonus is register an account and make a deposit. And after this, all you need to do is place a bet of £10 or more. In such a case, you will be rewarded with free bets in worth of £30. Once you settle the qualifying bet, you will get the tokens that are worth £10 individually. You can use one of these tokens for the mobile version of this bookie only.
£30 in free bets at William Hill
This bookie also offers £30 as free bets. And the way to get the bonus is very simple – you need to register an account and make your first deposit. Then you’ll need to put a bet of £10 or more and, as a reward, you’ll get 3 bets of £10. The expiry date for this bonus is 30 days and you can only use them for betting markets that are priced at 1.50 or higher only.
Live Streaming
This is a relatively new invention that makes the online gambling experience that much richer. You can see different sports events online at the bookies’ platforms. This will enable you to see the games as they are played – and the same goes for ice hockey.
Bookies that feature high-quality ice hockey streams are Bet365 and William Hill, among others. If you wish to get access to the streams, then all you need to do is have a positive balance on your account. Another option is to place a bet with real money – and you will get access to the streams for the next 24 hours.
Tips and Tricks
The most important thing about any sports betting guide is that it features advice that works for all sports betting. This advice is that you should look for bets with positive expectations. Most of the gamblers and online bettors don’t follow this approach. They think that all they need to do is guess the winner without taking the odds into consideration.
Even if you guess a decent amount of the games – you may still happen to lose money. And the reason for this is that it’s not only important to guess how the games will go, but it’s also important to know the probabilities.
As an example, you may think that a team will win the game. And you will be right if the odds for this are at 70%. However, the bookmaker may say that the probability is 80%. And this difference will be damaging to your profits in the long run. Even though you will be correct, you will still end up losing money.
Here are a few additional tips that you can use:
Don’t bet on the favorites all the time: this tip has been shown to be true for many sports. And it’s especially true for ice hockey. The odds that you will place on the favorites may not have any real value. In the long run, you may lose money by betting only on the favorites;
Ice hockey and streaks: this is a very important element that can influence how the game will go. If a particular team is on the roll, then the confidence of the players will be very high and this will influence their performance in the future;
Doing away with distractions: you shouldn’t place bets on dozens of different hockey leagues with dozens of different betting strategies and markets. We would suggest that you zone-in on one particular betting market and learn its ins and outs. This will help you make profits in the long run;
The importance of the goalie: the importance of how well the goalie plays in ice hockey cannot be overstated. If the goalie is on fire in terms of performance, then this may dramatically alter the course of any game;
Checking out the stats: you need to check the data before you make your bets. Make sure that you read more about the performance of various teams and their previous results and anything that gets your attention really. There are many online sources where you can find free, useful information.
In conclusion
But in the end, there isn’t any betting guide that will help you instantly win a huge amount of money. And this guide is no different. What we have tried to do here is give you the information that you can use in order to create a winning strategy for the long run. It’s up to you to put the effort in it and keep being dedicated to the task at hand.