NHL Betting Sites 2023
Published on 24 Jul 2020
Want to make a couple of bets on the Stanley Cup finals or support your favorite Pittsburgh Penguins? Then you definitely need to know all nuts and bolts of legal NHL betting sites available in your region. We guess you want not only to find a safe and secure place but also see competitive NHL odds, various options for pre-game and live betting, get a selection of interesting props, and probably see some more hockey betting options beyond the National Hockey League.
TOP-3 NHL Betting Sites
- Online casino;
- Good line on American sports;
- Poker;
- Esports betting.
- High limits
- Video broadcasts of matches
- Match Center
- Mobile applications
- Large selection of sports betting markets.
- Match center;
- Online casino;
- ESports betting;
- TV Games Betting;
- Video broadcasts;
- Keno and Bingo
On this page, you will find our recommended hockey betting sites with the best NHL betting odds. Looks like a perfect match to your Google search, right? We hope this review will give you examples of the best sportsbooks with hockey odds and give an idea of how to tell the good ones from mediocre controversial platforms. Our team’s experience with tons of online sportsbooks allows us to safely give you tips on choosing a nice place to bet on NHL hockey and other sports and introduce the basics of reasonable sports betting to you.
How do we rate NHL betting sites?
You don’t need to take our recommendations for granted: we will willingly tell you how we know that some sites are better than others. In this block, you will read about the essential things you need to check before joining any bookie: trust us, these tips always work out!
As our primary topic is NHL betting today, we will focus on finding the best NHL betting site. However, it all works for other sports: no matter what you want to wager on, you still want your sportsbook to be safe, secure, legal, and giving you the best of the experience: good odds, bonuses, sports markets, and great customer service.
Security and License
When we say that a sports betting site must be secure, we don’t only mean it must be a legit brand that will not steal your money. Even a fair sportsbook can fail when it comes to security if it does not encrypt your data using special methods like HTTPS protocols and SSL or TSL certificates. Simply check a website’s domain: if it starts with HTTPS, then you can feel pretty safe when you share your card details or withdraw money.
However, sometimes it is easier to start with checking the license: it is hardly possible that a respectable gambling commission granted a license to a site that doesn’t comply with security standards. Usually, you can see who regulates a sportsbook (e.g., issued a gambling license for it) somewhere at the site’s footer. The most prestigious gambling commissions with the strictest standards towards gambling platforms are the following:
- The UK Gambling Commission;
- Gibraltar Gambling Commission;
- Malta Gaming Authority.
If you want to place NHL bets in the USA (which is very likely), you can use local or offshore sports betting sites. In this case, your sports betting site will be either licensed by your local authorities, such as the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, or some remote gambling commissions like the ones we already enlisted or less reputable ones. See Curacao or the Isle of Man.
Available Betting Options
Later in this review, we will tell you about the top popular NHL best bets, so you will have an idea of the coverage. We can just remind you that no matter how many sports and events you see in the line, it doesn’t mean a thing if you don’t choose betting markets. Try to opt for sportsbooks that offer more than a couple of bets and allow you to create various interesting parlays, select from props, and bet on halves instead of the full time.
Bonuses and Promotions
A bookmaker’s bonus system is not usually a top priority of high rollers. Many recreational gamblers don’t pay much attention to it, too: sometimes wagering requirements are too hard to follow.
Latest Bonuses
However, hardly a player would opt out of a good welcome bonus or some additional cashback. The most popular bonuses that usually have adequate rollover rules (or don’t imply them at all) include the following options:
- First Deposit Bonus: a % match to your first deposit, limited to a certain amount. The most typical option is a 100% match;
- Free Bet: a risk-free bet that you receive for your first deposit or after you made the first bet;
- Accumulator insurance: if one leg of your accumulator loses, you still get a payout for the rest of the selections;
- Cashback: a certain cashback percentage on your losses;
- Special seasonal bonuses: boosted odds, enhanced parlay payouts, or zero margin offers for selected markets during some major events. For instance, some NHL betting sites can offer you special odds for Stanley Cup.
| Sportsbook | Bonus Amount | Bonus Type |
|---|---|---|
| BetMGM Sportsbook | Up to $1,000 | Risk-free bet |
| Unibet | Up to $1,000 | Risk-free bet |
| DraftKings | Up to $1,000 | First deposit welcome bonus |
| PointsBet | Up to $2,000 | Free bets are given as a bonus match to the amount you spent on selected NHL game tickets |
| FanDuel | Up to $25 | NHL Accumulator insurance |
| William Hill | Up to $5,000 | Risk-free bet |
| 888Sport | Up to €30 | Risk-free bet |
Coverage of NHL Events
We will speak about top NHL events later in this review, so you will have an idea of what any bookmaker must include in the NHL betting line. However, many sportsbooks go further and offer bets on Russian and European hockey, with international tournaments and local games. Obviously, you don’t want to be limited by the Stanley Cup finals, so make sure your sports betting site can cover various events and give enough betting options for them.
Live Betting Availability
Most hockey bettors love betting in-play: every hockey game is very unpredictable and dynamic, so it is easier to make betting decisions when you actually see what is happening.
Thus, we recommend online NHL betting sites that give in-depth coverage for live events and don’t limit players by only pre-match odds.
Sometimes, live betting lines do not include many NHL props and are very limited: you will hardly find more than Money line odds, Spread Betting, and Totals markets. Still, online sports betting sites we consider the best offer much more: for instance, Bet365 allows you to make next-minute live bets for each intermission separately.
Another important thing to notice: live betting odds constantly change: for instance, you will never find the same Puck line odds in the beginning and at the end of a match. Thus, your NHL betting site must be able to accept odds quickly: within a few seconds, in the ideal scenario. Among the fastest live betting sites are Bodog, the same old Bet365, and Sports Interaction: they, of course, allow some delays to avoid accepting bets at very low odds, but these delays are not too long.
Mobile Compatibility
Most modern sports bettors are mobile bettors: it is just statistics. Thus, it is non-sense for a large sportsbook not to offer mobile betting opportunities: we recommend you avoid such doubtful sites. Luckily, most sports betting platforms are perfectly adapted for most gadgets’ screens, and some of them launch native apps.
You will hardly likely find some special hockey betting apps: they will still contain other sports, too. Still, if a site has great odds for NHL, you can be pretty sure that you will get the same offer if you use a mobile version or an application.
Lines and Odds
Traditionally, sportsbooks offer the best NHL betting odds in pre-game match coupons. Some sites, for instance, BetMGM, allow you to bet on major events with a margin lower than average 5%, but as an event goes live, it might be increased to 7% or 8%.
When you bet on hockey or any other sports, always shop the lines. Compare what various sportsbooks offer and pick the most lucrative one — provided it is all good overall. Most NHL betting sites do not have their own oddsmakers (with some exceptions, of course) and use ready NHL odds from some providers. It is essential to find a bookie that works with a high-quality provider: if you manage to do so, you get great odds and receive access to a vast number of standard and exotic betting markets.
Interface and Usability
Some may think it is not so important, but we are speaking about the best online betting sites here, so everything matters — including the site’s layout and technical performance. We doubt you’d like it if your betting app crashed when you were a second away from making a top-notch bet at perfect odds, so our list includes only high-quality bookmakers that work perfectly fine.
The layout is also essential: when a site is too overwhelmed, it may work slowly; besides, you will struggle to find anything you want, so why opt for such venues when there are a plethora of well-designed and intuitive sportsbooks and betting apps?
Customer Support
Whatever happens to you when you wager on sports online, you must always have a quick solution on hand.
You are lucky if you managed to solve the issue after a minute of searching in the FAQ section, but what if not?
Every good sports betting site has a customer support team that can help you anytime. Thus, make sure your future sportsbook has the following features:
- Live chat, available 24/7;
- Customer service agents speaking your language;
- Various alternative contact methods, like email, phone, social networks.
Take your time to read reviews about the company and notice the brand positioning: does a sportsbook try to communicate to its customers, share the latest news, and monitor negative feedback to solve the issues and maintain reputation?
Common Types of NHL Bets
Most popular NHL bets are the same as markets for the other popular sports. We will briefly review what wagers you can make on NHL matches in the next block: such bets are usually available at any NHL betting site. Please, note that we are just describing each bet type and don’t give any strategies, while there are some: if you want to wager on NGL successfully, take your time to learn some betting trends and patterns. However, a rookie bettor can start with single wagers on the most straightforward markets, such as Money lines: we are just about to begin our review with them.
Types of bets
Moneylines
The money line is a very common NHL bet: it is widely used in most sports and is the most straightforward bet type. The point of betting on the Money Line is to predict the winner of the whole game, and that’s it. Sometimes, bookies can add Money lines for halves or intermissions if we are speaking about hockey betting, so you can bet on who will be a winner of a part of the game. The money line is not profitable when you bet on a strong favorite, but it can work out pretty well if both teams are more or less equal.
Puck line
Puck line is a name for Spread betting in hockey, so some bookmakers add it to a match coupon like Handicap or Spread. Unlike in soccer, a hockey puck line is always -1,5 or +1,5 and rarely has more spread points: hockey, including NHL hockey, is a very low-scoring game. Thus, if you wager on a favorite in the puck line, your bet wins if a favorite has a winning margin of at least two goals. If you back an underdog, your bet will work out if it wins or loses by one goal. As you see, this bet type gives you more opportunities than a money line and usually implies higher payouts.
Totals (Over/Under)
Totals are the bets where you need to guess how many goals will be scored during a whole match or a single intermission. It doesn’t matter who will win: only the total number of goals scored by both teams count. The bet types look like this: a bookie gives you several options, like Over/Under 0,5/1,5/2,5, etc., and you must choose one outcome that seems most probable to you. For instance, you want to bet on Over/Under markets offered for the Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Boston Bruins and select Over 2,5. Suppose the final score is 5:2, which gives you a total of 7: your bet won. One of the Totals bet options is Grand Salami Betting when you wager on Over/Underscores of all matches played on a particular day.
Props
Proposition bets, or props, offer you wager on some specific events that may happen during a game. They can be Game props, like, will the first team to score win the match, or player props: will a certain player score the first goal? The number of props basically depends on the oddsmakers’ fantasy, so there can be many various propositions for a single game. Still, there may be none at all — depending on the NHL betting coverage at a particular site. You are more likely to find a good game prop bet: game props are more typical for NHL betting than a player or team props.
Parlay Bets
Parlay betting is not about wagering on specific outcomes: combining several markets into one multiple bet. Various sportsbooks offer different terms for parlay bets. Still, the most typical parlay consists of two to fourteen selections and must contain picks from different NHL games (or any other sports games: you can combine NHL, NBA, MLB, etc., in one parlay). However, some NHL betting sites offer one-game parlays, so you can bet on several markets within one game. The advantage of a parlay bet is that you get increased payouts if it wins: odds from each pick multiply. However, parlay betting is risky: if at least one of parlay’s parties loses, you lose the whole deal.
Futures Bets
Futures are long-term bets where you bet on a team that will win a large event of the year or the NHL season. A sportsbook can publish odds for Futures several months before it happens, and the payoff might be very significant if you manage to predict the outcome right. For instance, the top popular NHL futures are Who will win the Stanley Cup; the odds start from +450 and reach +20000.
Major NHL Events You Can Bet On
We already mentioned the Stanley Cup among the top essential events in American hockey, and it really is the major one: the winner of the Stanley cup is the NHL playoff champion. Sixteen best teams of the regular seasons fight for the cup: eight clubs from each conference. Thus, the games that decide who will become eligible for participating in the NHL playoffs are also very popular, and there is one more exciting event called NHL All-Star Game: it is an exhibition game between the top NHL players of the season with four members in each team. NHL All-Star and Stanley Cup are held annually at different venues in the United States and Canada.
Brief Overview of NHL Betting in the US
The NHL Stance on sports betting has always been more relaxed than the other leagues’. When sports betting became legal in the United States, the NHL became one of the first to sign with new sportsbooks as betting partners.
For instance, the New Jersey Devils signed a deal with the William Hill almost immediately after the local gambling commission approved it, and the other clubs started negotiations upon daily fantasy and traditional sports betting deals, too.
It could not but affect the popularity of NHL betting in the United States: for instance, William Hill accepted 38% more bets on NHL within its first season in New Jersey, and also found out that the other leagues became more popular, too. Statistic says hockey bettors keen on the NHL are usually passionate about the rest of the top US leagues and make a considerable input in the overall gambling profit.
Some facts about the NHL betting trends: most NHL bettors prefer placing single Money line (Puck line) bets; the second popular betting type is Over/Under on the full time.
Conclusion
Gambling on NHL is unpredictable: the low-scoring but dynamic game can prevent you from making the right decisions. Many bettors advise checking not only overall or latest statistics but also being aware of some facts that don’t relate to the game itself. For instance, if a team plays on the away field, it makes sense to know how many times they’ve traveled this season: the number of flights may have a huge impact on players’ shape. Thus, NHL betting implies doing some homework and knowing much about the game’s nuances; still, don’t become obsessed with the result: gambling must stay fun, not an addiction.
FAQ
Basically, you can do it at every online sportsbook that accepts users from your country and has NHL odds. Make sure you are dealing with legal hockey betting sites, or select the one from our recommended sports betting sites list.
Yes, NHL bets are legal in all states where sports betting is legalized. However, some states can ban all bets for local teams to avoid match-fixing.
If a sportsbook offers a mobile app or has a good mobile site, you can safely place NHL wagers from your smartphone or tablet.
Experienced bettors never blindly back their favorite teams and opt to bet on the most profitable options. According to the latest statistics, it is reasonable to bet on Carolina Hurricanes, San Jose Sharks, Anaheim Ducks, and Columbus Blue Jackets: they have the biggest odds at various sportsbooks. However, if the situation changes, other teams considered as outsiders now can become of high demand among bettors.
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