There are very few things more exciting than the high-flying, hard-hitting, board-checking action of an NHL hockey game. One of the best ways to up the action, though, is by elevating the stakes with NHL sports betting. Whether you’re an expert looking to turn a serious profit, an avid fan looking for an added rush, or you’re skating somewhere in between the two, you’re in the right place to get started.
One of the most important decisions you can make in your NHL sports betting career is which site you choose to place your bets with. Regardless of whether your end goal is profit or just added fun, this is a decision that you aren’t going to want to take lightly. Now, before you start getting stressed, we’re here to let you know that you can relax because we’ve got you covered. In this guide, we’re going to walk you through everything you need to know to pick the absolute best NHL betting site for you and your normal or unique wants and needs.
If you’ve got a hot tip that will melt the ice or are just ready to get your bets in now, we won’t keep you any longer. Just visit our list of the top NHL betting sites available to you on the web.
For those of you that aren’t quite sure yet which NHL betting site you want to use and need some more information, keep reading. We’re going to walk you through everything you need to ensure that you end up at the site that is the best option for you.
Tips for Selecting the Best NHL Betting Site for You
If you’re brand new to NHL sports betting or making the switch from brick and mortar betting, you might not know exactly what it is that you’re looking for. Additionally, there are a lot of great options for NHL betting sites so it may seem tough to pick the right one for you. These tips are here to help you on that journey.
Don’t Limit Yourself to Just One Site
It might seem silly that our “tip to pick the best site for you” is actually to pick multiple sites, but there is a reason for that. Strategically speaking, joining multiple NHL betting sites offers a lot of advantages that can help you win more bets and put more money in your pocket when you win.
The name of the game to winning betting any sport (including the NHL) is line shopping. For short, line shopping is finding the best payout odds for a particular bet you want to make. Different online betting sites often are going to offer different payouts for the exact same bet. This means that by just going to a different site to place your bet, you can get paid more money for the exact same outcome. If you read our guide on understanding sports betting value, you’ll see that we have an entire section dedicated to understanding the importance of line shopping.
Your ability to line shop is only going to be limited by two things – your effort level and the number of betting sites that you check. We can’t do a lot about your effort level except point out the importance of line shopping and how easy it is to do thanks to the internet. What we can recommend, though, is to make sure that you are set to take full advantage of these different lines.
It can take a few minutes to get an account set up and funded online. If you are attempting to get a last-minute bet in and you find an amazing line on a different NHL betting site, you may get shut out if you don’t already have your account set up and verified. Save yourself the trouble and join multiple sites right off the bat.
How many should you join? 45-50 should be good. Kidding. We are kidding. 2-3 sites are probably plenty to get the full benefits of line shopping your NHL bets. Not too many that you’re overwhelmed, but enough that you can find the best line possible on each bet you’re looking to make.
Initially, look for sites that have big bonuses or perks for sports bettors in general. These are going to be much more common and certainly cover all of your NHL bets. Additionally, though, look for any online betting site that caters specifically to NHL sports bettors. Frequently (especially around Stanley Cup time), we will see sites offering specialized promotions to attract hockey bettors. You’d be silly and be leaving money on the table if you didn’t try your best to take advantage of these opportunities.
Gauge the Importance of Mobile Friendliness
One of the big reasons that people love to bet online is that they don’t have to take the time to go to a brick and mortar casino or sportsbook to place their bets. While online sportsbooks take away this ball and chain, they still can take things a step further. There are some online sportsbooks offering NHL betting action that allow you to bet directly from your smartphone or tablet by way of a mobile-friendly website or a dedicated app.
If you’re someone that likes to bet on the go, you’re going to want to make sure that you select an NHL betting site that is mobile friendly. For people that love to go to games, watch them at a bar, or sometimes forget to get their bets in until the last minute, this is a must for you. For the rest of you, it’s maybe not quite as important but is still a nice perk to have and something that we quickly see becoming a deal breaker if an online site does not have it.
How We Rank NHL Betting Sites
Anytime you see a highest-rated list anywhere on the internet, the first question you should always be asking is how did they come up with this list, what criteria did they use, and did sites or people just pay to be on the list. We’re going to walk you through all of that now.
First, no sites can ever pay money for a more favorable rating or to be included on our recommended list. If we allowed this to go on, the list would be of no use to you and would merely be an advertisement pretending to be a well-vetted review. Not on our watch.
Additionally, we’d like to be fully transparent with the criteria that our reviewers use to rank which NHL betting sites we’re going to recommend, and which are going to find themselves on our blacklist.
Trust and Reliability
The number one criterion we will always look at first is the trust and reliability of a betting site. How much fun or profitable would sports betting be if you were placing your bets at a site that you couldn’t fully trust? Beating the books straight up is tough enough on its own; no reason to make things harder on yourself.
If we have even the slightest thought that something is not right with a site in regard to trust and reliability, it’s a no-go from us. We analyze the sites that we recommend here based on their history, industry reputation, customer complaints, and their security practices and procedures. We do our absolute best to vet them as completely as possible to ensure that your money and your bets are safe and sound.
It’s alright to take some chances on a wild puck line or on the worst team in the league to win The Stanley Cup, but don’t take a chance on the security of your money, your bets, and your personal information.
Variety of Bets
When you look at betting the big three sports (football, basketball, and baseball), you really don’t have to worry too much about the variety of different sports bet types available to you. Most online sites are going to offer a wide variety of choices on almost every game. This gives those bettors the utmost ability to leverage their knowledge and expertise and maximize their full profit potential.
But what about us NHL sports bettors? Well, because the sport is slightly lower on the size totem pole, you have to pay attention to how much attention the betting site is giving to the sport. You will find some sportsbooks that offer no action on the NHL until the playoffs or Stanley Cup time. On the other end of the spectrum, you will find online sportsbooks that seem to be run by Wayne Gretzky himself with the number of options they offer.
Should you be looking for the site with few options or the site with all the options? The answer is that it depends. What you need to figure out first is what type of sports bettor you consider yourself. If you’re brand new to betting the NHL, you might get overloaded and confused with too many different bet types and options. While complex bets are not required to make a lot of money, they are available for those bettors that desire them. These can be very confusing to novice bettors. If you’re brand new and just looking to get your feet wet, you might be better off betting with a site that offers fewer bet options and takes a simpler approach to things.
On the flip side, you might be a more experienced bettor who likes to dabble in some of the more complex bets. If this is you, you’re going to want to look for an NHL betting site that caters more to people like you. This should be pretty simple to figure out by reading our review of a site or simply clicking through to their betting portal and seeing what they offer on an upcoming game.
Basically, the bottom line here is to find the NHL betting site that caters itself best to your specific needs. Remember, though, simple bets pay out just the same as complex ones. There is no advantage to using the more complex bets unless there is something specific you want to bet. Often times sports bettors get confused and think that complexity and better payouts are positively correlated. They are not.
Ease of Use
One of the most important things we look for and test during our review of an NHL betting site is how easy the site is to use. You should be able to load money easily, place your wagers quickly and correctly, and overall have an experience that keeps you relaxed and not feeling like a lost puppy.
While many online sportsbooks offering NHL action have caught up to speed with some of the other criteria listed here, this is one where a lot of sites still seem to miss the boat. Often there seems to be a disconnect between the site developers and the end users that results in a clunky and hard to navigate hockey betting experience. Not only is this just plain annoying, but it can also cost you a lot of money. A bad interface can cause you to miss bets you’re trying to get in quickly or even worse cause you to accidentally put in an incorrect bet without even realizing it.
Again, picking NHL winners is hard enough on its own; there’s no reason to make it any harder with the site you are betting on. It’s for that reason that we take ease of use very seriously when making the list of recommend sites at the top of the page.
Banking Components
In the old days of sports betting online, getting money on and offline was a bigger headache than it was worth. Thankfully with technological innovations, this process has gotten much smoother, and with the right site you can get your account funded and your winnings withdrawn in a matter of no time. While this technology exists, it does not mean that every sportsbook offering NHL action has adopted it. In fact, there are some betting sites that use such antiquated processes that it confuses us how they stay in business.
When deciding which NHL betting sites we want to rank and recommend, we take a long look at their banking options, ease of banking, and their policies and procedures surrounding the funding and withdrawal of your money. Much like is the case with trust and reliability, anything that seems off or gives us a bad taste in our mouth here is an instant no-go.
You need to be able to load your account quickly and even more importantly enjoy your winnings quickly without any sort of additional headaches. Online sports betting is supposed to be easier; there’s no reason to waste your time with a site that doesn’t understand and embrace this.
Additional Resources
While this is something still rather rare across the industry, there are some online sportsbooks that offer additional resources to help you with your research and keeping up with NHL news. Some of the additional resources you’ll see include up-to-date news about the sport, player and team bios, statistic gathering tools, or links to clips and past games.
Again, these resources are not very common when it comes to the NHL, but we do like to give some credit to sites that offer them. On that same token, we don’t get too upset with sites that don’t offer them as they are really just an added bonus and not really a necessity to facilitate a top-notch
Why Bet the NHL Online Versus The Casino
If you’re used to placing your NHL bets in the local sportsbook, you may be wondering why fix what isn’t broken. Well, while your local book will probably always continue to take your action and pay you out when you win, you’re probably leaving quite a bit of money and profit on the table. Here’s why:
The Wrap-Up
By now, you should have all the information you need to pick out the best NHL betting site for you. We highly recommend using one of the sites we’ve recommended at the top of the page as these have been fully vetted by our team of experts. If you’re dead set on going it alone and picking your own site, at least utilize the tips and criteria, we have recommended, but do so at your own risk.
There is a lot of money to be made betting on the NHL and a lot of fun to be had. We wish you the best of luck and hope to see you crushing the books soon!