HOCKEY BETTING SITES

Our top picks for the Best Hockey Sportsbooks Online in May 2023

The “Miracle on Ice” was a legendary hockey game between the USA and the Soviet Union during the Winter Olympics in 1980. If online betting was an option back then, there would have certainly been plenty of lucrative betting tickets.

Fortunately, the Olympics recur every four years, and they’re not the only hockey betting market. Plenty of magical moments occur in every NHL season as well, and sportsbooks amplify the excitement with generous odds, bonuses, and imaginative betting types. 

New bettors sometimes feel lost in the sea of online platforms that are vying for bettor’s attention. And while most betting sites cater to hockey fans’ passion, the quality of offers differs. When preparing to make the first deposit on a hockey game, it’s necessary to be diligent and select a secure sportsbook that offers a comprehensive hockey betting package.

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Locate the Best Hockey Odds

Sportsbooks prepare odds in-house, meaning there will be differences, which can influence potential profits. Generally, most platforms try to be competitive, but scouting out options by surfing betting sites may reveal enticing hockey odds.  

Numerous Betting Options

The inventory of hockey games offered on betting sites numbers in the thousands. Only the HNL offers 1,312 regular-season games, not to mention the playoffs. If the weekly action on North American ice rinks is not sufficient, bettors can turn to Europe and explore several national championships that regularly produce talent for the HNL. Another good option is the European Champions Hockey League which gathers tier-one teams from the continent, while few summer leagues fill the gap until the next big winter season.

Hockey Betting Tips

An educated bettor means more winning tickets. And most of our recommended sportsbooks provide the latest hockey stats and news. When the data gets interpreted correctly, it can shape a successful wager. Another great resource is forums, where bettors exchange opinions and experiences. Make sure you are talking to credible punters when collecting strategies.

Parley Hockey Options

With parlay bets, the trick is in combining several different types of wagers into one bet, and if the results come to fruition, the rewards can be huge. Every individual wager is a leg in the parley, and the more of them, the larger the odds. Making it an attractive option, but the risk is equally high.

Hockey Future Bets

Short-term forecasting on hockey games can get challenging, but predicting who will win the Stanley Cup or the Winter Olympics, months in advance of the competition, takes a lot of courage or good instincts, and future bets test both. The allure of future hockey bets is in the high odds, which promise a high return on investment if the guess proves correct.

Hockey Wagering Trends

Being in the loop with the latest developments in a chosen hockey market can make a huge difference when placing bets. Seasons are long affairs, and players get injured, can decline in performance, are traded to other clubs, coaches get replaced, many factors dictate how a team performs. Staying updated is not easy, but betting sites strive to provide relevant news to bettors.

Ice Hockey: Fast-Paced and Aggressive Sport

Ice Hockey is one of the fastest sports, and players don’t shy away from physical contact while chasing the puck, infusing a dose of competitive excitement. The genesis of ice hockey is hard to pin down because, throughout ancient history, several civilizations played variations of the sport.

Although, no written record testifies that ice was a preferred surface. The best guess is field hockey was the initial spark. It was popular in Victorian England, and it’s believed colonists brought it to the New World in the 18 century, where the cold climate contributed to its further evolution.

The present form of the sport took form in Canada, where during the second half of the 19 century, the puck replaced the ball, and the first official matches were played between rival Universities.

Since those humble beginnings, hockey has gone international, and today 77 countries are members of the International Ice Hockey Federation. The first Winter Olympic event was in 1924, while numerous professional leagues, mostly in the Northern Hemisphere, satisfy the fan base that numbers in the millions.

Rules have stayed consistent over the years. The game gets played on an ice rink, where two teams, each with five players plus a goalkeeper, try to drive the puck, a rubber disk, over the goal line. Naturally, the team that scores more goals wins.

Coverage of Hockey Leagues and Major Events

When choosing a hockey betting platform, a priority consideration is the available hockey markets. Sports fans are familiar with the NHL, yet the sport has a large following in the northern hemisphere, with most European countries having professional leagues. Coverage of the biggest hockey leagues is a staple feature of top hockey betting sites.

●     National Hockey League (NHL): Globally recognized as the best professional hockey league, the competition encompasses 32 teams from USA and Canada that compete for the prestigious Stanley Cup. With each team playing 56 regular-season games, plus the top 8 teams from each conference facing off in the playoffs, it’s a rich trove of betting opportunities for NHL bettors.

●     NCAA Ice Hockey Championship: College sports are a big deal in the USA, and hockey has a rightful place in the events calendar. With three Divisions under the umbrella of the NCAA and tournaments that decide the champion, there are plenty of wagering options.

●     Kontinental Hockey League (KHL): The best 28 teams from Eastern Europe participate in the KHL founded in 2008. Ever since, it has built a reputation as one of the premier hockey competitions in Europe and Asia. Sportsbooks with comprehensive hockey coverage regularly offer games from the league.

●     The Winter Olympic Games: Olympic hockey has always gotten perceived as the pinnacle of the sport, with the best players from around the globe gathering every four years. Wagering on the Olympic hockey games is popular because the 12 national teams provide quality matchups with great betting value.

●     Swedish Hockey League (SHL): Sweden regularly ranks high in the Winter Olympic Games and the World Championships. But our focus is the Le Mat Trophy that’s awarded to the champion of the SHL, where 14 teams justify the reputation of the best league in Western Europe.

Popular Hockey Betting Types

Bettors that have some experience in placing sports bets will not have difficulties getting oriented in the hockey scene, because some of the same rules apply. Some bet types are easier, others slightly more complicated, yet as a punter, always choose what you believe is the most profitable option.

●     Moneyline is a popular bet thanks to its simplicity: the wager is on who will win the game. In hockey, punters can bet on the favorite that gets represented with a negative number or the underdog that gets a positive number. An example of a money line is Minnesota Wild -140 vs Detroit Red Wings +150. This means a $140 bet on Minnesota can bring a win of $100.

●     Puck line is another name for point spread bet and is a frequently placed bet on hockey matches. Typically in hockey, the puck line is fixed at +/-1.5 goals, and the point is to guess if the favorite will win with two or more goals or if wagering on the underdog, that it will lose by two goals or even win the game.

●     Over/Under offers the option to choose if the combined score of both teams will be over or under the suggested number. Usually, an over/under bet (or a total) will get presented as 5.5, and you shouldn’t get confused by the decimal number – there are no half points. The game can end either with 6 points or more or 5 and lees. The half-point signals no ties.

●     In-play bets: Legal Online Gambling is a developing industry in the US, and with the option to livestream games, sportsbooks started to offer the option of placing wagers on live games, creating another level of excitement. The betting lines here constantly fluctuate, depending on the action in the ice rink. However, wagering on live games requires a lot of knowledge about the teams playing.

●     Prop bets: Propositions betting is wagering on specific things. The options are numerous, and sportsbooks tend to get creative, offering options to wager on which player will score the most goals in a game. Prop bets are not represented equally on every betting site, though, as some focus on them while others offer them sparsely.

Mobile Hockey Betting Support

Sportsbooks are increasingly harnessing the potential of mobile devices by incorporating responsive design on the sites or going all out with a dedicated app. Every serious betting site provides mobile betting compatibility for Android and iOS devices. The apps are easily navigable and offer every feature present on that website that can also be accessed through browsers on a mobile device, retaining full functionality.

Bonuses Offered by Hockey Betting Sites

Sportsbooks actively recruit bettors, and the preferred method to entice new punters are bonuses. There are several options, but generally, the principle is for the site to match your deposit with a certain percentage and condition the gifted funds with few wagering requirements.

●     Welcome Bonuses: Online betting sites pride themselves on the Welcome Bonuses, a boost for new bettors to start the wagering adventure. Typically a sportsbook will match the first deposit with 50%, 100%, or in some cases 200%. The credits will have a certain rollover requirement before any potential winnings can get claimed.

●     Crypto bonus: Sportsbooks are not immune to the hype over cryptocurrencies and accept Bitcoin and other digital coins as payment methods in the cashier section. By default, crypto gets incorporated into the promotions programs. Few betting sites provide dedicated crypto bonuses, and because of the fast transaction speeds with cryptocurrency, bettors are increasingly benefiting from crypto bonuses.

●     Free Bets:  Wagering with free money is always fun, but it’s not that simple. Free bets are an amount of money that can’t be redeemable for cash. For instance, a betting site can award you $20 with a few stipulations. So, you can wager the money, and if the bet is lost, the cash is gone, but if you win, then the winning is the real money that you have to bet for a given rollover before being able to make a withdrawal.

●     Reload Bonuses: Reload bonuses are not a staple in most sportsbooks, but bettors benefit from the option to replenish the account with a generous gift from the betting site. In some cases, the reload percentage is identical to the sign-up bonus, it can be even higher. These types of bonuses are offered from time to time to encourage regular bettors to stay active. They also come with specific wagering requirements.

Conclusion

Selecting a betting site is a delicate process, factoring in all the crucial parameters is a prerequisite for choosing a platform that will satisfy your hockey betting passion. Reliable hockey sportsbooks guarantee high levels of security, extensive market coverage, convenient options for deposits and withdrawals, and mobile support.

Choices are hard, and if faced with a dilemma, follow our recommendations of betting sites for pulse-racing ice hockey betting action.