NHL Gambling + Betting NHL Hockey Games Online
| Sports Betting Site | USA? | Bonus |
|---|---|---|
| Bovada | $250 | |
| BetOnline | $1,000 | |
| SportsBetting | $1,000 |
Although hockey may play second fiddle in America to more popular sports like football and basketball, there are certainly plenty of fans in the US who enjoy legal NHL online betting. You will be able to find plenty of legal sports betting sites that let you bet on all the most thrilling NHL games, including the Holy Grail of hockey, the Stanley Cup Finals. These legal online NHL betting sites offer many different ways to wager on hockey games, and they each have bonuses to help you save money along the way.
This page will focus first and foremost on the legality of NHL betting and gambling. The first section will answer the question, “Is it legal to bet on the NHL?” After that, we will break down each individual federal sports betting law. Next, we will tell you why you can safely bet on hockey without worrying about being arrested.
You will also learn about the betting laws for each state. Once the basics are out of the way, we will talk about a few of our favorite online betting sites that accept US players. In addition, we will throw in some important betting tips and information on NHL odds and wager types.
Is It Legal To Bet On The NHL?
The answer to this question is yes, and here is why: United States federal laws do not have any impact on sites that function outside of US borders. These rules do not apply to sites that are based in, say, Canada, Costa Rica, or Panama. In addition, no laws exist in the United States that would prevent a person from joining one of these overseas sites. The authorities really have no interest in throwing people in jail over a few hundred dollars’ worth of hockey bets. Their real targets are the serious criminals who reap enormous profits off bookmaking. Unless you’re actually operating a sports betting service, you can legally bet at these offshore sportsbooks without any problems whatsoever.
What Laws Affect Sports Betting?
In order to understand the full scope and complexity of the legality of sports betting, you need to understand the specific laws that affect sports betting and what they say. There are two major federal laws, although there used to be three – recently, however, the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act was overturned by the Supreme Court, finally allowing individual states to implement their own sports wagering industries. We are going to break down these laws in simple terms, explaining the whats, whys, and wherefores, starting with the oldest and working our way forward from there.
The Wire Act (1961): In 1961, Congress passed the Federal Wire Act in order to make it more difficult for criminals to profit off sports betting. The Wire Act specifically prevents the interstate transfer of domestic commerce for betting purposes or the transfer of information assisting in the placing of bets using a wire communications facility. Examples of wire communications include telephone, cable television, and Internet. Within the last few years, there has been an attempt by some in Congress to revise the Wire Act to include all forms of online betting. Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, a vocal opponent of online gaming for obvious reasons, is one of the main forces behind the Restoration of America’s Wire Act (RAWA). Luckily, RAWA has not gotten very far in Congress, and most likely will never see the light of day.
PASPA (1992): While the Wire Act did not go far enough to rid the United States of sports betting, the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act pretty much outlawed sports betting nationwide. Because of PASPA, no state could have legal state-sponsored sportsbooks. However, Congress made an exception for states like Nevada, Delaware, Montana, and Oregon, because they allowed some forms of sports betting well before PASPA was a speck on the horizon. Until recently, PASPA was the reason why any US citizen could just pack up and go to Vegas or Reno and bet on sports until the sun comes up, but couldn’t gamble on sports elsewhere. PASPA had its share of critics, including lawmakers in New Jersey, who effectively appealed the issue to the Supreme Court in 2017. In 2018, the Supreme Court voted 6-3 that the law was unconstitutional, rendering it null and void. Since PASPA’s overturn, multiple states have pursued establishing their own sports betting markets, and this trend should continue well into the future as many more states come on board.
UIGEA (2006): The final law that affects sports betting in the US is from 2006. The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act prevents the transfer of funds to or from online betting sites based in the United States. The UIGEA caused quite a bit of controversy when it was passed. Not only was it tacked on to the very end of a completely unrelated bill, the Safe Port Act, but very few people in Congress had time to actually read the thing. The UIGEA is actually the only law that has any effect whatsoever on overseas sites like the ones listed on this page: In very limited cases, it prevents people from using credit cards to make deposits at online sportsbooks. However, most reputable books long ago found effective workarounds to the UIGEA, rendering it mostly moot.
Will I Get In Trouble For Betting On Hockey?
No, betting on hockey will not get you in any sort of trouble. The laws that govern sports betting in the United States only affect those who engage in serious criminal conduct, such as underground bookmaking. Most people who bet on sports are just average folks for whom it is a harmless pastime. Millions of Americans legally bet on sports every single day without any negative consequence. At the end of the day, you are not breaking any laws by joining a legal NHL wagering site.
How Old Do I Have To Be To Bet On Hockey?
The answer to this question depends on what state you live in. The absolute minimum betting age in the United States is 18. In most states, however, the legal betting age is 21. Other states set the age at 19 or 20, while still others do not have any specific betting age. Then there are those states like California, Washington, and Oregon, where the age changes depending on the part of the state you are in. It is important for you to find out exactly how old you have to be to bet in your specific state, because it is possible to get in trouble with the law if you engage in underage gambling. Check your state code for the specifics. All that said, legal offshore sportsbooks only require their members to be 18 in order to sign up and place wagers.
The web is filled with NHL betting sites, but unfortunately, most of these are neither legal nor safe. Lucky for you, we have cherry-picked the very best legal sports betting sites and gathered them for your convenience on this page. You would do well to join any of the sites listed below, for they are each a perfect example of a safe, legal, and feature-filled online sportsbook.
Bovada Sportsbook
As far as online sportsbooks go, Bovada exists on the upper echelon of greatness. For upwards of 20 years, Bovada has been wowing its millions of members with great bonuses and special deals, wager and odds types, and interactive features galore. Since Bovada is licensed and regulated by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, you know that it is safe. It is also legal, too, because it is based in Quebec, Canada, where federal US laws do not apply. Bovada accepts members from most US states, with the notable exceptions of New York, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, and Nevada.
If you are looking for an NHL betting site that is fun and simple to use, Bovada is the perfect place to go! Everything is easily and clearly laid out on Bovada’s industry-leading website platform. For example, when you want to make your wagers, you can use Bovada’s awesome betting slip feature to calculate your wager amounts. You can choose from an enormous variety of wager types, including parlays, “if” bets, reverses, pleaser, teasers, and many more. You can use cool features like mobile betting, which allows you to use your iPhone, iPad, or Android to make all your bets. Or, check out live in-game play where you can wager on sports action in real-time as the games themselves play out.
New members who join Bovada now are also eligible to receive the industry’s best welcome bonus. Bovada’s Sports Welcome Bonus will match your initial deposit at a rate of 50% up to $250 in bonus free-plays, all with the lowest rollover around at just 5X!
BetOnline Sportsbook
When you join BetOnline, you will feel like a million bucks. That is because no other site has more great ways to make money than BetOnline does. One of the premier legal online sportsbooks in the world, BetOnline accepts players from every state in the US. There is seemingly no end to the amount of ways you can bet on the NHL at BetOnline. BetOnline has everything from great game lines, odds and wager types, funding and payout methods, as well as bonuses and special deals. When you factor in BetOnline’s excellent customer service hotline, you can see why millions of smart betting enthusiasts have joined up.
One of the best things BetOnline does for new players is that it offers NHL sportsbook bonuses. The most popular of these gives every new player a 50% deposit match, worth a maximum of $1000 in free-plays to add to your bankroll. From there, you can keep claiming different bonuses, such as the reload Lifetime Bonus, a Live Betting $25 Free Play, a Mobile Betting $50 Free Play, and more. As long as you meet the rollover requirements that each bonus comes with, you can save tons of money by using bonuses at BetOnline.
SportsBetting Sportsbook
SportsBetting takes the concept of Las Vegas-style sports betting and makes it even better. Its options are more varied than Vegas land-based books, plus you get valuable deals that you will not find anywhere at a traditional sportsbook. Of course, it goes without saying that SportsBetting is a much more convenient option than driving hundreds or thousands of miles to Sin City, where you will have to deal with overpriced hotel rooms, limited parking options, and hordes of drunk people spilling beer on your shoes. You will not have to deal with any of these things at SportsBetting (unless you have really, really terrible roommates).
Instead, you can sit at home and enjoy your privacy and relaxation while betting on your favorite NHL teams. You can even begin saving money right off the bat by accepting SportsBetting’s 50% Welcome Bonus worth up to $1000. Other available bonuses include the Reload Bonus, mobile and live betting free plays, and many more. Additionally, SportsBetting offers the most comprehensive banking options anywhere. The site supports credit cards, debit cards, international Visa gift cards, American Express, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin, DASH, bank wires, money orders, Western Union, cashier’s checks, and more.
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NHL In-Game Betting
One of the newest developments in legal online sports betting has been the advent of live, in-game betting. Live betting allows sports betting fans to place their wagers during games themselves, substantially expanding the number of available bets for a given matchup. With NHL in-game betting, you can place wagers on all the standard game lines (spread, puckline, over/under, etc.), and many sportsbooks will even let you bet on dynamic live props like the next player to score, the next team to get a penalty, and so on.
Live betting is made possible by the ubiquity of the Internet and the fact that most sports bettors these days have a number of always-on Internet connections to take advantage of. Just remember, with live betting on NHL games, you need to always be online, as odds are posted in real-time and may only be live for a few moments before closing or changing.
NHL Mobile Betting
Mobile betting is the most popular way to enjoy legal online sportsbooks, as all you need to have a direct line to your bookie is an iPhone, Android phone, iPad, or another modern tablet or smartphone device with an Internet connection. Using you mobile phone, you can wager on NHL action no matter where you are, simply by logging onto your site of choice from your handset or slate. And since all the top sites use browser-based “web-apps,” you don’t have to worry about installing any special native apps to gain access to all the cool mobile features available.
Users of NHL mobile betting can do everything their favorite books allow via their standard desktop platforms, including making deposits, browsing the boards, assembling parlays, turning in tickets, participating in live betting, and claiming payouts. When you add in the extra security that mobile platforms inherently provide to the end user, it’s no surprise that more and more users are foregoing “oldschool” desktop experiences in favor of mobile betting as a matter of course.
How To Start Betting Money On NHL Hockey
So you've made the decision that you want to start betting on the NHL and are wondering what the next step in the process is. Well, it's pretty easy. You'll want to shop the sportsbooks and check out the types of betting odds and wager types that you are interested in. The sportsbook that has the most matches to what you are looking for, and how you are able to deposit should be the winner. An account will have to be opened, but you will have your own login and password to get in and out of it. From there, the only step remaining is to bet.
Online sportsbooks don't like to limit bettors and what they are able to wager on. This applies across the board, including within the NHL betting section. It's obviously better for the site to cater to a wide variety of bettors when choosing which lines to release and the wager types to field for different sports. With respect to the NHL, there are plenty of different ways to go about wagering.
Straight Wagering - The simplest type of a wager it a straight bet. Odds are you have made a straight wager in your life, and just haven't recognized that this is what it's called if you are unfamiliar with the term. A straight bet is any one wager you make where the outcome depends only on that one bet. There are no other bets that will affect what happens, and no other games that come into play.
Parlays - A parlay kind of like the opposite of a straight bet. It's actually a string of straight bets that are made, though with only one payout in the end. All of the straight wagers made must be a winner for the parlay to pay out. If you like the idea of big-time payouts, this could be your wager type. But bettor beware, there is a reason it's a high payout.
Other Ways To Bet On The NHL - We want to preface this with the fact that all sportsbooks are not created equal, and what one of them offers might not be the same as the others. The NHL is not like football or basketball where all wager types are on the board. NHL betting will be limited to a few different areas, so you will want to pay attention to what can take place.
Ok, so you're in the sportsbook and see the NHL betting section; what will it have in there? For most of the best sportsbooks for NHL wagering, you will get a slew of game lines, prop bets, and futures wagers.
NHL Game Lines - Game lines includes the goal-line, the moneyline, and the game total. The goal-line in hockey is similar to the run-line in baseball. It's a static spread in which the team set in the role of the favorite on the money line will need to cover by two goals to beat the spread. The catch here though is that the team favored on the moneyline will payout high than the underdog on the goal-line. This is because it's perceived to be harder to cover the two goals.
NHL Prop Odds - Game lines won't be the only thing you see though. Bettors have the chance to wager on props for players and teams in games, as well as throughout the season. Individual game props will accompany every matchup on the season. Some could have more than others, and when it comes playoff time, you can expect even more!
NHL Futures - There can be several NHL futures betting lines formed. Odds to win the Stanley Cup are most popular. Other betting lines relating to the Stanley Cup Playoffs can be in there as well, with division and conference odds abundant.
If you are interested in betting on the NHL, there are a few tips and strategies just below that you might be able to find useful. But keep in mind nothing is a sure thing, and there are many other tips out there to try out as well.
Check out the latest betting trends for teams and matchups during the season. Bovada Sportsbook actually provides some great information on all of the NHL matchups, as do many other sites. Betting trends will list teas and situations hot on the spread, and those that are cold, which can be just as valuable.
Responsible betting is the key to making money in the long run on most cases. Certainly there is the chance where one player could win big on one bet, but the smart money is used over time and spread out. The more chances to win, the more wins will likely come your way. Knowing ahead of time the budget you are dealing with can help you plan your wagers better and give you the best opportunity to win.
Underdogs will always have a higher payout in a matchup so you can stand to win more money for risking less than going with the favorite. This is especially true in hockey because of the moneyline and run line. The spread isn't exactly done how it is in football or basketball. Sometimes betting the underdog on the spread is really taking the favorite straight up.