Top Hockey Sportsbooks 2024

There’s plenty to love about hockey today. While the game has changed a bit to feature more athleticism and finesse over physicality, there's no denying the toughest athletes in the world still play hockey

But, if you’re like me, the most exciting development in the world of hockey in recent years has been the growth of legal online sports betting.

Before 2018, if you wanted to place a bet on the NHL or college hockey online, you had to use a shady offshore sportsbook. Now, many states have legalized online sports betting and there are tons of great online sportsbooks to choose from. Maybe even too many! That's why we've created this page. - to help you choose the right online hockey sportsbook for your betting needs.

Here are the best hockey sportsbooks on the market today:

The NHL has been quick to embrace the trend of sports betting since the overturn of PASPA in 2018. Already having a more niche audience than the other 3 major sports, this was a wise decision on the NHL's part to ensure even more revenue streams.

Now the majority of NHL teams in the US have an official sports betting partner with many NHL arenas even housing sportsbooks. The league also has a number of non-exclusive partnerships with many online sportsbooks, including DraftKings Sportsbook and Betway.

But not all betting sites are created equal - there are certain key features that can separate the Wayne Gretzky's from the Brent Gretzky's. Let's dig into what can make an NHL sportsbook rise above the pack.

Live betting is one of the most exciting ways to bet on sports, and NHL bettors have some unique advantages. Unlike other major leagues, the NHL has been fast to embrace live streaming on sportsbooks.

While this is popular in Europe, American leagues have been slow to embrace this growing trend. With huge television and streaming rights deals blocking this patch for the NFL and NBA, the NHL has taken advantage and carved out a niche for itself as a fantastic league for live bettors.

As it stands, the NHL is the most widely-available major domestic league to stream on a sportsbook.

Many sportsbooks pride themselves on their live betting experience and try to promote it to users with special incentives. For example, some sportsbooks offer users profit boosts for live bets on a regular basis.

Make sure to take advantage of these incentives if you start live betting on NHL games!

Sportsbooks with NHL Live Streaming

• Bet365
• FanDuel Sportsbook
• BetMGM
• BetRivers

Puck line betting is hockey's terminology for the traditional point spread betting you find in most major sports. The way it works is fairly simple and in line with how point spread betting works in most major sports. Let's take a look at an example:

• Philadelphia Flyers (+1.5) @ Tampa Bay Lightning

Like with most point spread betting, as long as the Flyers don't lose by 2 goals or more, a bet on them would be a winner. So, if the Lightning win 2-1, you win, but if the Lightning win 3-1, you lose. It's straightforward and shouldn't pose too big of a learning curve as long as you have a baseline of sports betting knowledge.

If you're a regular sports bettor, you come to learn that the game can get repetitive over time. Especially if your game of choice is hockey. With over 1,000 games to bet on each season and relatively little variance in scorelines, it's important to keep things interesting.

One way to spice things up is parlay betting.

Parlays allow you to combine multiple outcomes into one bet. You can get really creative and mix and match wagers from different games if you've got a strong feeling about a few outcomes. On the plus side, you get the benefit of enhanced odds. This means you stand to win more than you would if you had placed separate straight bets. On the downside, all of these bets have to hit in order for your parlay bet to be considered a win. So, those enhanced odds come at a price.

Parlays are a bit riskier than straight bets, but you stand to win more.

Many sportsbooks have their own twists on how they allow you to build your parlays. BetMGM features a parlay generator that randomly creates parlays for you based on the parameters you set. These kinds of innovations have made parlay betting even more popular in recent years.

If you're more a big-picture prognosticator than a week-to-week winner, NHL futures may be more your cup of tea. Hockey futures allow you to make long-term bets on season-long results like championships and awards.

Maybe you think that McDavid is slated to repeat as MVP, or that Crosby has one last run in him to lift the cup one more time. You can jump on these bets before the season begins, or let the odds adjust over the course of the year.

With how common player movement has become in recent years, some sportsbooks have even resorted to offering odds on off-ice results, such as free agency, trades, and the NHL Draft. Over the offseason, some sportsbooks allow users in select states to place wagers on where star players will land.

Top 5 Sportsbooks for NHL Futures

• Bet365
  
• Caesars Sportsbook
• FanDuel Sportsbook
• DraftKings Sportsbook
• Fanatics Sportsbook

When you think of college sports, you probably think of basketball and football. There's no doubt that visions of Cinderella NCAA Tournament runs or legendary overtime thrillers in major NCAAF rivalry games probably spring to mind first.

However, many sports fans across the country have a strong passion for college ice hockey. While the audience is much smaller, there's no denying that the passion for fans of programs like Michigan, Minnesota, and UMass runs incredibly deep in the blood of their fans.

This is more of a niche betting area, so not every sportsbook has extensive coverage, so the following betting sites are your best bets to consistently find odds on the latest NCAA hockey action.

The NCAA has yet to embrace sports betting the way professional leagues have. Given the fact that college athletes do not get paid, there are more competitive integrity concerns to consider than in pro sports.

With the Supreme Court decision allowing NCAA Athletes to profit off their own likenesses, players can now lend their face and name to various endorsement opportunities. And who knows what that could lead to - maybe even athletes getting paid directly at some point. With fewer players staying with their NCAA program than in the past, this may even be a positive for schools retaining their talent for multiple seasons since they can become wealthy off-the-court with sponsorships and shoe deals.

In any case, this evolution will certainly necessitate powerhouse hockey schools needing to open up and think more business-minded than they have historically.

Of course, the NHL is the world's best hockey league by a wide margin, but there's still plenty of interest out there about the goings-on in foreign leagues. Similar to how baseball has the NPB and KBO for fans of the international game, hockey has a number of extremely competitive leagues across the world, such as Russia's KHL and Sweden's Allsvenskan.

In fact, these leagues are so competitive with the NHL in terms of salary that bonafide Hall-of-Fame-level players like Ilya Kovalchuck and Jaromir Jagr have left the NHL to play in the KHL while still in the middle of their primes.

Unlike other popular American sports, international hockey leagues play at levels comparable to the NHL

Additionally, with hockey being such a strong international sport, you'll often get to see a glimpse at the next generation of NHL stars in these leagues. Legends like Alex Ovechkin and Peter Forsberg got their start at the pro level playing for teams in their home country - Dynamo Moscow in Russia and Modo Hockey in Sweden.

Real hockey junkies may have some interest in choosing a sportsbook that has many foreign leagues to bet on, and the following sportsbooks would be strong choices.

Best International Hockey Sportsbooks

• Bet365
• Betway
• DraftKings Sportsbook

When choosing a new sportsbook for betting on hockey, you would be wise to make sure you’re getting good bang for your buck.

The best way to do this is to pick a sportsbook with generous bonus offerings, especially when you first sign up.

Specifically, for betting on the NHL you can also look to sites that have regular odds boosts and promotions. During the season they will often be specialized for nationally televised games and major events. You stand to be eligible for special offers, such as same game parlay insurance, live bet insurance, odds boosts, and more! Most of the time, you won't find these offers specific to college and international hockey betting, given that they are so niche.

Make sure you choose a sportsbook that offers you bonuses that matches up with how you want to play!

Once a sportsbook has offered you a sign up bonus for joining, they need you to keep coming back. Like any other business, repeat customers are crucial for online sportsbooks.

In order to keep you coming back, sportsbooks frequently offer existing customer promotions to users based around the game of hockey.

Frequent hockey sportsbook existing customer promotions include:

• Odds Boosts
• Bonus Bets
• Parlay Insurance

Put simply, odds boosts make odds more favorable in the bettor's direction. At no penalty to the player, sportsbooks shift the odds on specific outcomes to maximize the potential payout for the user.

Odds boosts can be offered around games featuring teams and leagues that sportsbooks have a partnership with or major events like NHL Playoff games or hockey at the Winter Olympics.

You can usually find odds boosts for existing customers on sites like Betway, BetRivers, DraftKings Sportsbook, and FanDuel Sportsbook.

Bonus bets are fairly self-explanatory: you get to place a wager without putting down any of your own balance. Sometimes you get winnings in real cash, while other times you'll get on-site bet credits that you can use to place other wagers.

Sometimes you have easy access to these offers for major events like the Stanley Cup Playoffs or the Winter Olympics, and some sportsbooks even offer users bonus bets on regular season games for NHL teams with which they have partnerships. Bonus bet promotions frequently require the player to complete a certain action before they are unlocked.

Earlier, we discussed how both traditional and same game parlays have become more common in the be sports betting landscape of today. Due to their high-risk nature, sportsbooks now encourage users to bet this way. One incentive used to entice users to engage in parlay betting is parlay insurance.

Parlay insurance guarantees that your entire parlay bet doesn't go bust if only one leg of your bet loses. Depending on the betting site, these offers are available for traditional parlays, same game parlays, or both.

There are different requirements from book to book on how to unlock parlay insurance, including the minimum wager amount and the number of legs that must be included in your bet.

In the past, FanDuel Sportsbook has offered NHL parlay insurance up to $25 if one of a 4+ leg multi-sport parlay wager loses.

If you want to take your bets with you on the go, it’s crucial to choose a sportsbook that has a great sports betting app.

The vast majority of bets placed on sports in the US are made via a mobile device and it’s clear to see why - having the action at the tip of your fingers is both exciting and convenient.

Some important elements of a great hockey betting app must be nailed in order for the product to really shine:

• App design - An eye-catching design can make a sportsbook stand out. FanDuel Sportsbook has a super-slick design that assures users they're on a modern platform.
• Functionality - Bettors should be able to easily access key features within one or two clicks and there should be little-to-no lag that could hinder live betting. Bet365 has a no-nonsense mobile app that is extremely competent and functional.
• Mobile features - Many sportsbooks have added features exclusive to their mobile apps. This makes sense as it incentivizes users to download the sportsbook’s app and the vast majority of legal online sports bets in the US are placed from a mobile device. For instance, the DraftKings Sportsbook app has an advanced stats hub that suggests wagers to users based on sports analytics.

There are other crucial elements to keep an eye on, of course. For more information check out our Sports Betting Apps page.