NHL Bitcoin Betting

The Growth of Bitcoin Betting on the NHL

The growth of Bitcoin betting on the NHL can be traced back to the middle of 2019. During that time, the league itself signed deals with three different casino operators helping the NHL capitalize on the fact that whether or not sports gambling should be legal became a matter of state and not federal laws. The deal Commissioner Gary Bettman put together saw wagers on NHL hockey increase by 38% at William Hill sportsbooks.

What does this have to do with the growth of Bitcoin betting on hockey? The news further legitimized betting in general and the arrival of the Las Vegas Knights as the NHL’s newest franchise certainly shined a spotlight in the one state where gambling matters most. Nevada.

Thanks to this, a male demographic living in Nevada that may not have previously been exposed to betting on the NHL was now going to games and hearing about it in the local sports news. On the Las Vegas strip where there’s always a reason to sprinkle down a bet, more and more of that same young demographic that also invests in Bitcoin was hooked.

Bitcoin sportsbooks have always offered wagering on NHL hockey. After all, most crypto betting sites are owned by large operators anyway. The names of them just don’t roll off the tongue the way that brick-and-mortar casinos on the strip do. Given the Las Vegas Golden Knights are the first major North American sports franchise to break ground in Nevada, it only makes sense that more and more bets are being placed on the sport, both on the strip and on the blockchain.

What Do The Best Bitcoin Bookies Offer for NHL Bets?

There are a few key features offered by the top Bitcoin bookies taking NHL wagers and some that just make a Bitcoin bookie much better to wager on. Let’s break down some of those features.

What Makes A Good NHL Bookie?

The best NHL bookie is one that offers the best moneyline or puckline odds on a given game. Books are always going to compete for that to a certain extent. Traditional online betting sites that don’t necessarily offer cryptocurrency as an option usually have reputations for either targeting casual bettors or serious bettors. Pinnacle is one sportsbook that famously tries to set their betting odds to attract the casual player. This means they want to offer slightly better odds than every other brick-and-mortar and traditional online sportsbook as a way to get new gamblers hooked on their offerings.

Pinnacle doesn’t always offer the best odds on every single NHL game, but a savvy Bitcoin bettor who sees the odds are favourable on one particular matchup can then check out a host of Bitcoin sportsbooks and see if any of them are offering even better odds than Pinnacle.com. That’s a way to find out if you’re getting the best price.

Outside of shopping for the best lines with both traditional and Bitcoin bookies, other features that make an NHL sportsbook a good one includes:

• Live or “in-play” betting
• Combination bets
• Speed at which odds reflect potential injuries or holdouts (if they’re slow to do so it can be a real money making opportunity)
• Hockey promotions

What Makes A Good Bitcoin Bookie?

Ironically enough, a good Bitcoin bookie is one that offers more than just the opportunity to use Bitcoin. These days many top Bitcoin sportsbook operators allow gamblers to use Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin and many other kinds of digital currencies. Anything not named Bitcoin is otherwise known as an altcoin.

Most Bitcoin bookies you explore will allow NHL bets to be eligible towards deposit and other rollover type of bonuses, so even though the sport is less popular in comparison to the NFL and the NBA for example, there’s no reason not to wager on the NHL.

Betting Bitcoin on NHL Futures

An NHL Futures bet is just like any other futures wager. You’re betting on an event that won’t be finalized until well into the future. Savvy bettors can pick the winners of the Western Conference, Eastern Conference and Stanley Cup Finals and earn a minimum of three times their wager just for picking the favourites in each category. That’s the advantage. What’s the disadvantage? The fact that injuries, signings, trades and lucky bounces of the puck can change who the favourites are at any given time. That’s why sportsbooks can afford to payout decent odds on these kinds of bets. Plus you’re locking up Bitcoin for what can amount to potentially an entire season and betting against the rest of the field.

Betting Bitcoin on the Puckline

Where a moneyline wager is a bet on either the home or visiting team to win straight up regardless of the score, a puckline wager stipulates that the favorite must win by at least 1.5 goals, meaning that a final score featuring a two-goal spread for the home team must stand for the bet to be considered a win. In-game betting may feature a similar kind of bet where the goal spread is larger if the score gets out of hand. A two-goal game might see the updated puckline odds set at -2.5 in favor of the team with the lead.

Betting Bitcoin on the Goal Total

Betting on the total number of goals scored during an NHL game is another way to get in on the action. The average number of goals scored usually sits around five goals, so Bitcoin bookmakers will often set the over/under for the total at 5.5. Betting on the under means the game will see a total of five goals or less. Betting on the over means the total score will run five goals or more. In game totals will be adjusted according to how fast both teams are scoring. Sometimes the over/under total might start out at a lower number when to lower scoring teams are playing against one another or higher when high-octane offenses are going at it.

Betting Bitcoin on the Stanley Cup Playoffs

Betting Bitcoin on the Stanley Cup Playoffs is as simple as betting on the regular season. Favorites will pay out less than even odds, while an underdog might dish out some value on a winning wager. Totals bets usually see the number start out a bit lower with a five-goal total being most common. This is because most NHL playoff games involve tighter checking and a greater focus on defensive strategy.

Since NHL playoff matchups are not a single game elimination tournament, bettors actually get the chance to wager on more than just one game. Each NHL series is a best-of-seven tournament all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals. That means the winning team in each round must win for games to be declared the victor and move onto the subsequent round of the playoffs.

Not only then is it possible to wager on each individual game in a series, bettors can also wager on the total score of the seven games. If they expect the Stanley Cup Finals to be tightly contested for example, they can choose in advance to declare the favorite the winner of a series that ends four games to three.

About the NHL

The NHL was founded in Montréal, Québec, Canada in November, 1917. The league started out with just six franchises collectively known as The Original Six. The teams included the Boston Bruins, Detroit Red Wings, New York Rangers, Chicago Blackhawks, Montréal Canadiens, and Toronto Maple Leafs. Today, the league hosts seven teams in Canada and 24 in the United States for a total of 31.