Betting on Major Junior Hockey

As long as they have existed, Americans have bet on college sports, particularly college football and college basketball.

In Canada, most Canadians have a passing interest in college sports, and as far as betting is concerned, one would be hard-pressed to find an online sportsbook with odds on games involving Canadian universities.

But that doesn’t mean Canadians don’t follow sports played by college-aged kids. In fact, they have a huge passion for amateur hockey.

Specifically, Canadians across the country are passionate about a brand of hockey played at the highest reaches of the amateur level, often referred to as major junior hockey.

This level of hockey, much like Division I college sports in the U.S., feeds the pros. Top hockey players in Canada usually play major junior hockey because it’s the quickest route to the NHL.

There are three major junior hockey leagues in Canada – the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) and the Western Hockey League (WHL). All three fall under the direction of an umbrella organization called the Canadian Hockey League (CHL).

Top players are typically drafted directly out of these three leagues and often start the next year on NHL clubs. Sidney Crosby, for instance, played on the Rimouski Océanic of the QMJHL before joining the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins.

There are 18 teams in the QMJHL representing cities throughout the Province of Quebec and Canada’s four Atlantic provinces – Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island (PEI) and Newfoundland. The league also has one team representing Lewiston, Maine.

The OHL has 20 teams representing cities across Ontario as well as two cities in Michigan (Plymouth and Saginaw) and one in Pennsylvania (Erie).

The WHL has 22 teams representing cities in Canada’s western provinces (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia) as well as five U.S. cities (four in Washington and one in Portland, Oregon).

While extremely popular, betting on major junior hockey is relatively unheard of. Even the Canadian government, the country’s largest bookmaker, doesn’t take action on major junior hockey in its popular Proline sports betting “lottery”.

(Proline offers parlay betting on NHL, NFL, NBA, MLB and other sports. Bettors can place bets at convenience stores, pharmacies, gas stations, etc.)

Recognizing an opportunity, Bwin.com, a publicly-traded company based in Vienna, Austria, is now posting odds and accepting wagers on all three Canadian major junior hockey leagues.

For instance, a hockey bettor could wager on tonight’s WHL game between the visiting Kelowna Rockets and the Prince Albert Raiders.

Bwin displays odds in decimal format, which will be familiar to Proline bettors. The Raiders, who are 18-15-1 on the season and second in their division, are 1.85 favorites to win during regulation time. This means a bet of $100 will pay $85.

The Rockets, who are 18-16-1 and are second in their division, are 2.60 underdogs, which means a bet of $100 would pay $160 if the Rockets were to win in regulation.

Bwin also offer odds on a regulation tie. In this game the odds are set at 5.25 if the game is tied at the end of regulation. That’s a payoff of $425 on a $100 bet.

Players can also bet on the final result of the game, regardless of whether the game goes into overtime or resorts to penalty shots. The Raiders are listed at 1.65 ($65 on a $100 bet) to win, and the Rockets are listed at 2.10 ($110 on a $100 bet).

And finally, Bwin offers odds on game totals. In other words, bettors can wager on whether the combined score of a game goes over or under a set number.

In the game between the Rockets and Raiders, Bwin has two sets of total odds: 5.5 goals and 6.5 goals. Bettors who bet that the combined score will fall under 5.5 goals will get odds of 2.55 ($155 payoff on $100 bet) and those who bet under 6.5 will get 1.80 ($80 payoff on $100 bet).

Bettors who bet over 5.5 will get odds of 1.45 ($45 payoff on $100 bet) and those who bet over 6.5 will get 1.90 ($90 payoff on $100 bet).

According to a spokesperson at Bwin, odds on Canadian junior hockey games are based on statistical analysis and bookmakers’ opinions.

Bwin is a highly-respected international online sportsbook and casino. In addition to sports betting, Bwin offers online poker and casino games.

Outside of gaming, Bwin is known for sponsoring professional soccer teams like AC Milan, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, as well as the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and MotoGP, the world’s premier motorcycle racing circuit.

To open an account at Bwin.com, click here.