Betting Real Money on NHL Hockey
Updated: February 14, 2025

The NHL stands as the top hockey league in North America and has enthralled fans for over a century. For about that long, NHL betting has taken place, albeit in informal or illegal form. But you can now bet on the NHL for money the very best NHL betting sites.
Betting on the NHL is a process that involves some knowledge of not just the game and the types of NHL bets there are. You also have to know how to proceed by choosing NHL online betting sites. When you put all of this information together, you can become a knowledgeable hockey bettor.
This in-depth NHL betting guide will provide information on every step of the process, from selecting a sportsbook to preparing for your US hockey wagers.
We’ll tell you about the very best NHL betting sites and explore what makes them so useful. And we’ll go through the NHL betting tips you need, including how the different bets and NHL odds work as well as some strategies you can use to win.
Best NHL Betting Site – BetUS
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Year Launched: 1994
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Welcome Bonus: 100% for sports up to $2,500 + 25% for casino up to $625
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Crypto: Yes
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US Players Accepted: Yes
When you visit the NHL betting section at BetUS, you’ll find that it’s easy to understand the process of everything from discovering your bets to making them. The NHL odds that you receive from the site are consistently higher compared to other hockey sportsbooks online.
The selection of bets available is also far better than what you’re likely going to be able to find at other sites.
You’ll get a nice selection of futures wagers with everything included, from which individual players will win awards to which teams could win their division or even the Stanley Cup.
If you are the type that likes to bet on the go, the app that BetUS utilizes includes all of the wagers on the NHL that you can find on the main site.
The app is simple to use for both hardcore hockey gamblers or someone who is just trying it out for the first time ever.
On top of all that, BetUS is home to wagering bonuses that really make a difference to your hockey online betting fortunes. That includes special promotions that are tied to deposits made with cryptocurrency. In that way, BetUS is giving you incentives to use one of the best possible options for online gambling deposits.
We’ve reviewed all of the possible NHL betting apps and betting sites that you might encounter. And we’ve found that BetUS comes out on top of the heap. You’ll have a safe, positive gambling experience betting hockey and enjoy all the perks that the site and their mobile app have to offer.
Top NHL Betting App – MyBookie
- Year launched: 2014
- Welcome bonus: 100 percent sports welcome bonus (doubling your deposit)
- Crypto: Yes
- US players accepted: Yes
One of the features of MyBookie that you’ll notice right away when you visit their app is the selection of NHL prop bets that you receive. We know that prop bets are popular with NHL bettors. Having this kind of variety at your disposal simply gives you many more ways to win big.
For example, when you check out the list of NHL games at MyBookie, you’ll see next to each of them a link to click that will take you to the various props. Many of these will be tied to team performance. But as you move forward into big NHL events like the All-Star Game or the Stanley Cup, individual player props will pop up as well.
You should also be aware of the live betting chances you’ll have at the MyBookie app when it comes to the NHL. As you get into the midst of a game, the oddsmakers will keep you on your toes with the bets that come at you. That means that you have a better chance of finding value than you otherwise might.
Look for bonuses at MyBookie to be offered to you with regularity. These go beyond just your standard percentage bonuses to include special features such as reloads boosts to your account, rebates on losses and bonuses that can even be tied into specific hockey events.
You get all of this on an app that is a breeze to use and never glitches out, as is the case with some lesser mobile betting sites.
We would highly recommend that you choose MyBookie if you want to do your NHL online betting on the go. The convenience and the service that you get will be second to none among NHL betting apps.
More Safe NHL Sportsbooks Online
We’ve provided you in the above sections with what we feel are the single best online betting site and app for NHL hockey. But those two aren’t the only ones that are worthy.
Our researchers have done the work to find more trusted NHL betting sites that will give you the best possible wagering experience. We can’t stress enough how important it is to take the choice of sites seriously. A poor or untrustworthy betting site can really do serious damage.
The sites that we’ve listed below all do an outstanding job in the departments listed above. Here is a look at a few more that we believe in on top of BetUS and MyBookie.
What did we look for when choosing the top-rated real money NHL betting sites? Here are the most important qualities that an online sportsbook should possess when it comes to its NHL offerings.
NHL Coverage
You’ll want access to as many NHL betting markets, including live betting, as can be offered to you. This gives you the chance to choose the wagers that make the most sense to you, instead of being forced into options that don’t really do it for you.
NHL Bonuses and Promotions
Hockey betting bonuses are a must-have when it comes to an NHL betting site. The bigger the bonuses are and the fewer the restrictions attached to them, the more chances you’ll have to make a profit with your NHL bets.
NHL Odds
Make sure that the site you choose features NHL betting odds that are competitive.
Mobile NHL Betting
Look for NHL online sportsbooks which have an excellent mobile component attached to them. There are a lot of hockey bets that you’ll be able to make during the season. You don’t want to get shut out of them because the site you’ve chosen doesn’t have an app.
We also have gone included general ranking factors that apply to all top-rated sportsbooks for NHL betting online. Let’s check them out.
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Safety and Security – More important than anything else, you have to be able to trust that the site in question is safe. Ending up at a site that isn’t on the level can lead to your personal and/or financial information being compromised.
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Payment Options – Another key element to have at your hockey betting sites is the ability to choose between many different deposit and withdrawal methods. More flexibility means that you can maximize both the cost-efficiency of your transactions and the convenience with which they take place.
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User Interface –The top NHL betting apps and sites will be simple to use, even if you’re brand new to the process. It can be extremely annoying to get on a site and not be able to find where you need to go.
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Help and Support – Customer service is something that shouldn’t be overlooked when it comes to choosing your site. If something goes wrong or you have a question, you’ll want to be able to quickly get in touch with the site’s representatives.
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Reputation – It’s important that the NHL betting sites that you select enjoy a positive reputation among NHL bettors. After all, they know more than anybody else what is needed for a positive experience in this world.
All of the options above also feature excellent sportsbooks apps for NHL betting on mobile. You can use them on every mainstream phone or tablet for instant access to all markets, features, and ice hockey promotions.
NHL Betting Options
For those who haven’t done a lot of NHL gambling in the past, you might not realize the options that are available to you. It goes far beyond just picking which team is going to win a given game.
There are many different angles to five into a game, and you can even pick apart other aspects of the NHL other than focusing on a single game.
The best NHL betting sites do a great job of bringing just about all of these options to you. What you can do with these different NHL bets is decide which ones are in line with what you’re trying to achieve. They each come with their own sets of risks and potential rewards as well.
In certain cases, you can find some other exotic betting options that we’re not going to mention. But if you follow along with the overview below, you should have a good idea about the most common betting choices when wagering on the NHL.
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Moneyline – The simples option allows you to wager on which team wins or loses an NHL hockey game. When you bet on the NHL, the moneyline, which can be explained here, defines the favorite and the underdog.
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Spread – You’ll sometimes hear the spread in hockey referred to as the puck line, but just know that the two terms are talking about the same thing. In hockey, the underdog is almost always given 1.5 goals to be added to their total at the end of the game. Therefore, they can win you the bet even if they don’t win the game.
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Over/Under – When betting on the NHL online, you don’t necessarily have to wager on who will win or against the spread. You can wager on how many goals will be scored by the two teams in that game. The over/under line will be set so you can decide if more (over) or less (under) goals will be scored in the game.
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Single Team Over/Under – These work the same as the main over/under wager, but they are limited to a single team’s goals.
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The Grand Salami – The Grand Salami is a unique bet that can only be found in the world of hockey. It is basically an over/under bet that is made on the total goals of all games on a single day or night’s schedule.
There are other bets that can be found at top NHL gambling sites, such as props, which can take place in a single game or as big-picture wagers on some aspect of the NHL. Once you get to know these wagers a little bit better, they’ll become like second nature and the terminology won’t seem so confusing.
NHL Futures
A futures wager on the NHL is an excellent way to beef up your profits in a hurry if you can get them right. There is more risk in a futures bet because the wager is often placed far in advance of the event on which you’re betting. By the time the wager is settled, anything can happen.
Note:
That’s why you’ll see the oddsmakers at the top NHL hockey betting sites offer you potentially lucrative payback for these bets. They are volatile, so futures wagers might not be for everyone betting on the NHL.
But for those seeking a big payback on a small bet via NHL odds, they are a good way to go.
Examples of NHL futures bets include:
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Stanley Cup Winners – Because there are 32 teams currently in the NHL and only one can win the Stanley Cup, you’ll likely get big odds on the franchise that you pick. The further away from the Cup that you bet, the bigger that those NFL betting odds will be.
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Conference Winners – You can make a futures wager on which team will win a conference. With 16 teams in each conference, the payback is usually excellent.
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Division Winners – If you’d like to narrow your chances a little bit more from the previous two NHL futures bets, we suggest you try to pick a divisional winner instead. There are four divisions of eight teams each. Those looking for value with this bet should look to make it early in the season or even in the offseason.
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Individual Player Awards – If you’d prefer to hone in on single hockey players in the NHL, you can make futures wagers on who will win various awards. You can bet on the all-season awards, like the Hart Memorial Trophy for most valuable player. Or you can go with postseason awards like the Conn Smythe Trophy (playoff MVP).
Go to the top real money online NHL betting sites and you’ll find many examples of even more team and individual futures bets available. You can choose to go for big scores with these wagers or play it safer by backing the favorites. If you play your cards right, you can find great value in NHL futures odds.
NHL Live Betting
Live NHL betting at online gambling websites refers to the wagers that can be made after a hockey game has begun. It’s a unique way to approach the competition and many people love it.
You still get the typical US hockey betting markets, like over/under, puck line and so on, when you’re live betting. But oddsmakers at the best NHL betting sites often include some unique in-game bets. You might find examples like these when gambling on the NHL.
- Which player will score the next goal?
- Will the goalie of one of the teams be pulled at some point?
- How many penalties will there be from this point forward?
- Will there be a shorthanded goal in the remainder of the game?
With NHL live betting, you can watch the game, get a feel for how the two teams are matching up, and use that information to your advantage.
You can also use live bets to really amplify your pregame wagers. Or, if you’re not sure about the pregame NHL bets you’ve had, you can use the live wagers to hedge against them.
Basic NHL Betting Tips
When it comes to betting on the NHL, there are some key pieces of information you need to know. First, you have to understand a little bit about hockey and how the NHL works from night to night. But you should also have a basic background in sports betting principles as they pertain to NHL odds, on which you should base your betting activity.
What you’ll find is that the fundamentals below will be in play for you even when you have watched a lot of NHL hockey and understand it pretty well.
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Determine Clear Goals – Decide what you’re trying to achieve with your NHL bets online. This means you should know what kind of risk you’re willing to accept and what kind of payback you desire. When you know this, you’ll know what kinds of bets you want to pursue.
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Manage Your Bankroll – Establish a betting budget for betting on NHL games. If you want to spend, say, $100 per week on NHL betting and know that there are ten games scheduled for the week that you want to bet, you might divvy it up into $10 wagered per game. Basic bankroll management is a good skill to have, no matter the sport you’re betting.
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Prepare Properly – Learn about the league and the sport before betting on hockey games. Do some research on the teams playing and what kind of a season they’re having to this point. Going in and betting blindly is a sure way to be disappointed.
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Stay in Control – Don’t try to chase losses with more bets. Many people think that they can make that one bet to “break even” after a losing streak, but that could lead you to fall deeper into the hole down the road. This is also true with live NHL betting, where you could be tempted to follow up losing bets with make-good wagers in a short span of time.
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Avoid Personal Bias – Try not to bet on the NHL for money with your heart. While wagering on your hometown and/or favorite team can be fun, it will lose its luster if that team goes on a bad streak. In fact, some top sports gamblers avoid betting a game at online betting sites for the NHL involving their favorite team because they feel they can’t be objective about it.
The NHL betting tips above apply to pretty much all wagers you can find online, so make sure to follow them. We have more advanced strategies for the different markets below, so let’s check them out too.
NHL Regular Season Betting Advice
Real money NHL betting on the regular season requires its own set of strategies that can help you win. Remember that these games are never held in a vacuum. In other words, the most talented team doesn’t necessarily win each game night in and night out, because there are other factors that affect the play.
Tip:
One basic tip that you should always remember is to make sure to follow teams not just in the regular season as a whole, but also in short stretches.
The concept of a “hot” or “cold” team is very much in effect in the NHL, so try to keep up on the daily action. The overall record might not catch such trends.
Here are some other important tips for betting the NHL regular season.
Home and Away
Home ice advantage is often a big factor when it comes to the regular season schedule. But it’s not just a matter of simply picking the home team every game. Some teams are better than others on the road, while other teams don’t protect their home ice very well.
For that reason, you should take a look at NHL standings that have home and road records listed. Here are some examples of teams that much better on the road in the 2020-21 NHL season.
Team |
Home Record |
Away Record |
St. Louis Blues |
12-11-5 |
15-9-4 |
Anaheim Ducks |
6-18-4 |
11-12-5 |
New Jersey Devils |
7-18-3 |
12-12-4 |
Winnipeg Jets |
13-13-2 |
17-10-1 |
You can find similar teams every year, so identifying trends early can help you a lot during the regular season.
You should go even deeper than that if you can to see how well certain teams do when having to travel further distances or while in the middle of long road trips. Putting all that together will give you a clearer idea of whether home ice will matter much in individual games.
The Grind
Hockey is as physically demanding a sport as there is, and it often takes its toll on the health of its players.
Important:
For that reason, it is an absolute must that you check the injury report before wagering on any game. Nothing is more frustrating than betting on a team and then finding out their top players are all hurt.
Even beyond that, it can be telling when a hockey team is in the midst of a busy part of its schedule. For example, a team playing the second of back-to-back nights against a team that has been off for the last few nights might be at a competitive disadvantage. The fresher team should thus get more consideration when you wager.
Matchups and Trends
If you’re someone who knows the game of hockey inside and out, you can probably watch a team play and know what its strengths and weaknesses might be. That information is crucial when deciding on how to bet on a game. One team just might be well-equipped to exploit the weaknesses of its opponent.
But even if you’ve never laced up the skates yourself and want to wager using matchup tendencies, you can use trend betting.
For example, you might find information that one team has won the last nine games in a row when facing a certain goalie. If that goalie is in the net against them, you should consider backing them in some way.
Strategy for Betting on the NHL Playoffs
You can use a lot of the strategies for regular season betting when it comes down to the nitty-gritty of the NHL postseason. But you have to be aware of some other factors which seem to come to the fore in the playoffs more than ever.
Here are the most important among them.
Experience in the Postseason
The experience that a team has with being in the playoffs in the past can make a big difference. Pressure is magnified in the postseason, and that can cause an inexperienced team to crack.
By the same token, a squad full of veterans that struggled in the regular season might be able to rally in the playoffs.
Athletes that have been there multiple times have a higher chance to hit their best when it matters the most.
Impact of the Goalies
Any team that can rely on a strong goalkeeper has a shot when it comes to the playoffs. The players in this position often live and die by their confidence.
Important:
If a goalie gets hot at the right time, he can do wonders in the NHL postseason. It’s a snowball effect that can create unlikely heroes and greatly impact the outcome of the playoffs.
That’s why you should always follow the performance of the goalies, it’s essential for your chances to win money from NHL betting online.
Coaching
The coaches have more of an impact on the playoffs than they tend to do in the regular season because they spend more effort preparing for every clash.
There’s more time between the different games for the staff to study the opposition and try to find ways to exploit every weakness.
Deciding on goalies, changing up substitution patterns, or even just motivating the team becomes crucial. Coaches with a track record of success in the postseason can get more of their players and you should always consider that when you bet money on NHL games.
Tips:
It’s also important to consider the extra motivation in the postseason when you look at previous results. What happened between two teams in the regular season is usually a good starting point for your analysis, but the different context of playoff games could lead to different outcomes.
NHL Live Betting Tips
Live betting presents such a unique set of opportunities that you have to approach it with a specific strategy. That’s not to say that all of the NHL betting tips that we discussed in previous sections don’t apply. But you should be prepared to add a few tidbits that are meant just for in-game wagering.
When live betting on the NHL, remember the following rules.
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Keeping a Cool Head – You’ll have to process a lot of information in a hurry, as the odds will be changing fast. That requires the decisiveness to pull the trigger on a bet if you feel good about it. But it also means that not making a wager can sometimes be the right decision if you’re up in the air about it.
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Timing Is Everything – It’s also all about timing your wager when the moment is right to get the most value. For example, if you feel strongly about which team will get the next goal, jump on it when you see the odds rise. If they end up on a power play, those odds will fall and the value will disappear.
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Follow the Referees – Pay attention to how officials are calling the game. If they seem to have a quick whistle with penalties, it will mean more goal chances since teams with be in the power play more. But if the referees are letting them play, goals might be harder to come by.
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Stay Alert Until the End – As the game wears on, the odds are going to be changing a lot more rapidly. That’s because the outcome will be closer to being decided, and NHL oddsmakers will be protecting against an avalanche of winning bets. The late stages can also be when the biggest profits are made if you can hit on an unlikely upset.
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Stay Selective – Always remember that the bookmakers at top NHL online betting sites are watching the game right along with you. That means that any odds change that they make will be based on the hockey evidence that they see. Don’t expect the NHL bookmakers on the internet to make a mistake, but instead just try to focus on bets you think are winnable and provide excellent value.
If you can follow the NHL live gambling tips above, your chances to win money in the long run improve dramatically.
More Popular US Sports to Bet on
The NHL is part of the so-called “Big Four” of professional sports in America, joined by baseball (MLB), football (NFL), and basketball (NBA). It is at the bottom of the list in popularity as judged by television ratings and press coverage (at least in the US.). But the cities that host professional hockey generally support the sport with intensity.
Many of the same betting concepts apply to the other sports (moneyline, spread, over/under, etc.) You can also wager on them at top sports gambling sites. For more information on how to wager on the and some strategies, check out the following pages.