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MAIN / / How to Make a Bet on Ice Hockey

While ice hockey may not be as internationally revered as soccer or rugby, it’s still an extremely popular game, especially in Canada and the USA. For those who enjoy the wintery sport, with its aggressive tactics and intense speed, Parimatch is bringing all the ice hockey betting action you can handle, directly to your smart device.

Thanks to the Parimatch state-of-the-art sports betting app, ice hockey fans in Tanzania and across Africa can now benefit from the platform’s incredible range of ice hockey bets. Parimatch users are privy to live and pre-match ice hockey betting, available directly from your fingertips.

By signing up for a Parimatch account, the easy betting platform means it has never been simpler to access a broad range of betting options, from double chance wagers to correct score betting to handicap bets. Whatever your style of betting, Parimatch is proud to welcome you to our sophisticated betting app to leverage our vast array of betting styles.

Not only that, but the expert gambling team at Parimatch is here to provide top tips and strategies for ice hockey betting, as well explanation on all the related jargon. For new users, this guide offers a step-by-step rundown of how to place ice hockey wagers on Parimatch, along with tips on how to read ice hockey odds for the greatest chances of success.

So, what are you waiting for? Sign up for a free Parimatch account today to access the outstanding catalogue of ice hockey betting options on all the global tournaments, leagues, and cups across the globe.

What Is Ice Hockey in Betting?

As ice hockey is more of a niche sport than, say, soccer, it can be a little difficult to understand how betting works for this winter wonder. Luckily, we’ve put together this guide to run you through the basics of ice hockey as a sport and how betting works.

A Little Background on Ice Hockey

Ice hockey is most popular in the United States and Canada. The most well-known ice hockey league is the National Hockey League (NHL), which despite being called a “National” league, contains 30 teams spread across the two countries. Throughout the season, each team in the NHL plays a total of 82 matches; 41 in their home ring and 41 away. As so many games are played in this seasonal league, it gives bookmakers a lot of opportunities to create interesting and diverse betting for punters looking to wager on ice hockey – especially since a lot of games means a very long season.

On top of the NHL, famous ice hockey competitions include big international tournaments such as the IIHF World Championships, The World Cup of Hockey, and the Ice Hockey European Championships. Ice hockey also features in the Olympics and the Southeast Asian Games. You’ll also find other ice hockey leagues such as the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) and the Swedish Hockey League.

Ice hockey has a reputation of being the speediest game on earth. This is because the aggressive game has a puck that whizzes so quickly across the ice that if caught by it, it can cause serious damage. In order to work with such a fast puck, the team also needs to skate at incredible speeds. Not only is ice hockey extremely quick, there is a high level of agility and skill needed for teams to be successful. While Canada and the US are famously enamoured with ice hockey, it is also popular across Northern and Eastern Europe.

Ice Hockey Betting Markets

As ice hockey has become more popular, the betting markets associated with the sport have become more diverse. This can be seen on the Parimatch sports betting app where customers can revel in the extremely varied range of betting opportunities laid out. From a variety of leagues and tournaments to a robust selection of betting types, users can enjoy watching ice hockey from all perspectives, while placing various wagers.

On Parimatch, the types of bets available include simple bets such as 1X2 and Draw No Bet wagers. 1X2 bets mean that you bet on either one team or the other to win, or you bet on a draw. Draw No Bet wagers remove the skewed odds of a draw, enabling punters to bet on only one team or another to win – stakes are returned if the two teams tie. Parimatch provides outright bets such as this at both the league level and for tournaments, including big international events like the Ice Hockey World Championship and the Olympics.

Ice hockey fans can also enjoy other forms of betting on the Parimatch website. Offering first goal, last goal, both teams to score, odds/evens, and correct score bets, there are plenty of opportunities for the beginner bettor to throw a wager down on ice hockey tournaments and leagues – both the NHL and other leagues, such the Swedish Hockey League and the Kontinental Hockey League.

So what’s the hold up? Download the Parimatch app to access this unprecedented array of ice hockey betting options directly from your smart device. With the most impressive catalog of ice hockey bets in all of Africa, you won’t be disappointed.

How to Read Ice Hockey Odds on Parimatch

If you want to place ice hockey bets on Parimatch, you must understand how the odds work. There are a few different formats for odds in bookmakers, including fractional odds and American odds. Fortunately for Parimatch users, the platform uses the easiest type of odds to understand – decimal odds.

Decimal odds not only make it simple to understand how much you can win if your prediction pays off, this format of odds also demonstrates the implied probability that your bet will pay off.

Using Ice Hockey Odds for Implied Probability

The term “implied probability” refers to the likelihood that the bet will win according to the calculations of the bookmaker. The bookmaker will take into account the history of the team, their opposition on the day, the referee, and other key statistics to determine the likelihood of the team winning. This translates into the decimal odds you see on the Parimatch app, meaning that your potential winnings directly relate to your chances of winning.

It is very simple to work out the implied probability of your bet paying off by using decimal odds to create a percentage of the likelihood of bet success. It is important to understand that when all implied probabilities are added together, they often come in over 100%. This is not a mistake. This is known as the bookie’s over-round. The extra percentage is the profit that the bookmaker collects for the service. However, this does not skew the probabilities, and will still clearly demonstrate the favourites versus the underdogs.

Working out implied probability from the odds is a breeze. You simply divide 100 by the decimal odds, giving you a percentage. For example, take this upcoming ice hockey game between Canada and Germany: How to make bet on Ice hockey

To start, before working out the probability, you can tell which team is the favorite and which is the underdog by how high the odds are. Low odds, like with Canada in this example, demonstrate a high likelihood of winning. High odds, as with Germany in this instance, signify a low chance of winning. If there is a big discrepancy between the odds, as there is here, it means that Canada is far more likely to win than Germany.

So let’s calculate the implied probability. According to the odds, Canada has a 1.07 chance of winning. If you were to divide 100 by 1.07, Canada has around a 93.5% chance of winning the match. Now let’s look at Germany. With odds of 20.00, Germany has a 5% chance of winning. It’s quite clear that Germany is the underdog in this situation.

Let’s take another example, however, of two more evenly matched teams. Look at this example of Finland versus the USA: How to make bet on Ice hockey

In this example, the odds are much closer together. The odds are higher for Finland than the USA, meaning there is more chance that the USA will win. Let’s calculate the implied probability to get a better look at how much more likely the USA is to win the match.

The USA has odds of 2.02. If you divide 100 by 2.02, this gives the USA 49.5% chance of winning. With odds of 2.95, however, Finland only has around a 39% chance of winning. Interestingly with this match, the two teams are much closer in skill, with only a 10% margin for the favourite. When we look at the draw, there is actually a 24% chance that the two teams would tie. In this sense, it could be anyone’s game if the favourite were to slip up slightly!

Using Ice Hockey Odds to Determine Potential Profit

Decimal odds not only make it simple to work out how likely the bet is of winning, they also make it easy to understand how much you could win if your bet paid off. This is where the phrase “high risk, high return” comes from.

As you can see from above, the lower chance a team has of winning (the higher risk), the higher the odds. Decimal odds are used to work out how much you could earn from your bet. This is done by multiplying your stake by the decimal odds displayed, and then minusing the original stake.

Take this example of Sweden versus the Czech Republic:How to make bet on Ice hockey

As you can see, Sweden is the favourite in this match as the odds are lower than the Czech Republic. This means that if you bet on the favourite and win, your return would be lower than if you bet on the underdog and the underdog won.

Imagine that you bet 10,000 TZS on Sweden to win. You would have a 58% chance of this bet paying out. If Sweden were victorious, the bet would pay out 17,300 TZS. Minus your 10,000 TZS stake, and you would have a profit of 7,300 TZS.

However, imagine that you bet on the Czech Republic with 3.65 odds. You would only have a 27% chance of the bet winning out. That said, if the Czech Republic did win, you would get a payout of 36,500 TZS, giving you a profit of 26,500 TZS. As you can see, there is a higher risk, but this means a higher reward!

How to Place Handicap Bets on Ice Hockey

Handicap bets are somewhat of a more advanced betting style that enables you to level the playing field when placing a wager on an ice hockey game. Handicap bets are most often used when there is a clear discrepancy between the favorite and the underdog. By adding handicaps, you can either enable the favorite to win with a clearer run, or you can bring up the underdog’s tally to bet on the weaker team to win.

The idea of handicap betting in ice hockey is that you can handicap one side by giving the other side extra goals. This means that when it comes to the final scores, you either minus the goals from the handicapped side or add the goals to the other side. This score with the handicap is the score used for the bet.

Let’s look again at the example of Detroit Red Wings versus Carolina Hurricanes, where the second team is a favorite. Here are the odds for possible handicap bets:

1 (+1) 1.80 2 (-1) 2.01
1 (-2) 7.00 2 (+2) 1.01
1 (-1.5) 4.70 2 (+1.5) 1.15
1 (-1) 4.20 2 (+1) 1.18
1 (+1.5) 1.58 2 (-1.5) 2.28
1 (+2) 1.38 2 (-2) 2.90
1 (+2.5) 1.30 2 (-2.5) 3.30
1 (+3) 1.15 2 (-3) 4.70
1 (+3.5) 1.12 2 (-3.5) 5.50

Firstly, it is important to understand how to read the format of handicap bets. The number outside the bracket represents the winner of the match. A “1” refers to the home team (the one named first), in this case, Detroit Red Wings. The “2” refers to the away team, which is Carolina Hurricanes in this example.

The numbers inside the brackets pertain to the handicaps indicating the extra goals given (numbers with a “+”) or taken from the team (numbers with a “-“).

Say that you put a 10,000 TZS bet on Carolina Hurricanes to win even if one goal is subtracted from their final score. Let’s imagine they indeed won with the score 4:2. After the subtraction, the score is 3:2 to Hurricanes and your bet wins. You receive a payout of 20,100 TZS which means a 10,100 TZS in profit.

However, if the real score was 3:2, it would turn into a 2:2 draw after the handicap is applied. This way, your bet won’t win.

How to Bet on Odds/Evens in Ice Hockey

Odds/evens is an extremely basic style of betting, based on chance. While other styles of betting, such as totals and handicaps, are based on statistics and prior knowledge of the team’s capabilities, odds/evens betting requires you to simply place a guess. This is why the odds are quite low and tend to be similar for both odds or evens.

The idea of this kind of bet is straightforward. You need to bet on whether the final score will be either an odd number or an even number. You are betting on the total final score of both teams added together. So, for example, say that the final score was 6-4, this would give you a total of 10. This would mean that the final score was an even number, so bets would payout for those who placed a wager on evens.

How to Bet on the Point Spread in Ice Hockey

The point spread in ice hockey refers to the winning margin by which the victorious team wins by. In other words, the bookmaker gives punters a potential range of spreads that a team can win by and you guess how many more points they will have when they win the game.

The idea here is that you are not only guessing which team will win, but you are also guessing how many goals the team will win by. Guessing a winning margin is difficult because there often isn’t much goal difference between the winning and losing team unless the favourite is distinctly clear.

Let’s take a look at this match between Finland and the USA:

Finland by 2 8.80 Finland by 3+ 8.60
USA by 1 6.00 Finland by 1 7.00
USA by 3+ 4.50 USA by 2 6.20

As you can see, odds are offered both to guess the team that will win and the amount that they will win by. As this game is likely to be fairly close between the two teams, the odds aren’t particularly high for one team or the other – they are pretty equal for each beating the other by any number of points. However, as you will notice, the odds climb higher as the margin widens.

Imagine that you placed a 10,000 TZS bet on Finland to win by 2 goals. The odds of this happening are 8.80, meaning that you have an 11% chance of this occurring. However, the final score was 5-3 to Finland, you would get a pay out of 88,000 TZS, giving you a profit of 78,000 TZS. However, if the USA were to score 1 extra goal, making the scores 5-4, you would lose the wager, even though Finland still won.

Due to this, many bettors tend to bet the hockey spread or winning margin during the game by placing live bets. Often the odds aren’t so good, but you can see the way the game is going more accurately from the action happening in real-time.

Ice Hockey Betting Tips and Strategies

As with betting on any sport, getting a strategy behind you can help to guide the way your place wagers. This will give you a better idea of which matches to bet on, which sides to take a chance on, and which types of bets you should be placing. One of the major things to consider is the statistics behind the game, including the club’s rankings and their previous gameplay. On top of this, however, there are a few factors to consider in order to place successful bets.

Here are a few strategies and tips from Parimatch’s expert ice hockey betting team.

  • Betting on goals

Many ice hockey fans like to bet on goals. This is because, similarly to football, you can predict the number of goals that may be scored based on prior performance. Teams tend to score no more than 6 or 7 goals in a match. It’s actually quite rare for teams to get a higher number than this. With this in mind, you can look at how a team has been playing recently to determine the number of goals they may score, along with previous games they have played with this particular opponent. If the team is a clear favourite, they will likely score a much higher number of goals than if they are up against an equally skilled team. Both of these statistics can work in your favour. In this sense, often ice hockey punters like to place totals bets as this enables you to try and guess the number of goals scored, with a little leeway for scores over or under (depending on the bet placed).

  • Remember home rink advantage

As with all sports, the home advantage sticks like mud in ice hockey. This is important to remember when you are betting on a favourite away side. While the favourite may have more skill and a better rank, the home advantage is a very powerful factor. Supportive crowds and a familiarity with the surroundings can often carry the underdogs forward, enabling them to prosper in ways that seemed unimaginable. If you are considering betting on an underdog to boost your potential profits, it is far better to place a wager on an underdog when they are playing at home rather than away.

  • Keep an eye on the goaltender

As noted above, ice hockey is perhaps the fastest game in the world. The speed a puck travels makes it unbelievably difficult to stop it, especially if it is whizzing toward a goal. The goaltender has a difficult job so knowing how well each goaltender can defend the goal is essential. While attack will help score goals, a poor defense can be a killer in ice hockey. This is also important when betting on teams that are usually good. If a very good goaltender is out of play for that match, you may consider betting differently.

  • Research Power Play statistics

Power Plays are a common occurrence in ice hockey. They occur when a team is being punished for bad behaviour and has a player sent off temporarily. While this player is sent off, the opposition have an advantage for that set time. It is important to understand how well certain teams play when they have this one-man advantage and how they fare when they are a man down. Teams that can hold their ground when they have a man down will be at an advantage. Equally, however, teams that know how to capitalise on having a man-up can get the upper hand by scoring in this moment. These powerful team coordination attempts are recorded in statistics, so look for teams that score a lot when Power Plays occur. It definitely an advantage to bet on these teams when they are playing opposing sides that are known for fouling often, as it gives them more opportunities to score with an extra body on the ice.

  • Look into home and away performance

When choosing a side to bet on, it can be tempting to only consider a team’s overall ranking at the current moment. However, often teams have a discrepancy between how they play at home and away. Some teams are great on the road, where others tend to fall short on unfamiliar rinks. Equally, some teams never falter when they are on their home territory, but may be weak while somewhere else. Consider this when placing a bet. Just because a team appears lower in the rankings, you may find value in betting on them away, as they have had some surprising victories while on the road.

The Difference Between Pre-Match and Live Betting Odds in Ice Hockey

In the spirit of offering diverse betting opportunities, Parimatch makes it possible to place both pre-match and live ice hockey bets. This means that you can place wagers on the game before the game starts, or you can bet while the action is happening. The way you bet changes depending on if the game is live, and correspondingly, so do the odds.

Pre-Match Bets on Ice Hockey

Pre-match betting refers to the practice of betting on ice hockey before the game begins. To place a sensible pre-match bet, you want to look at the statistics and historical gameplay of a team. This is how the bookmaker comes up with the odds displayed on the Parimatch app. The odds of pre-match bets on ice hockey are directly related to the implied probability of each team winning the match. In this sense, the odds take into account factors such as ranking, recent performance, rivalries between teams, the officials and referees conducting the game, home and away statistics, injuries, and so on.

When it comes to pre-match odds, it is important to understand that these odds are static. If you place a pre-match bet, these odds don’t change throughout the game. What this means is that, even if circumstances drastically change, your odds will stay the same. This can work in your favour in some circumstances, and against you in others.

For example, take this match between Finland and Italy: How to make bet on Ice hockey

As you can see, Italy is the underdog, with only a 4% chance of winning the match. Say you placed a 10,000 TZS bet on Italy to win at 25.00 odds, while this could be a very rewarding bet, it’s unlikely to pay out.

However, imagine that one of the Finnish players is sent off for extremely bad conduct. Now down a man, it looks far more likely that Italy will win. Due to this, the live odds would change, dropping down lower as Italy has a higher chance of winning. If you were betting live, you would now have lower odds to bet on Italy, meaning live bettors would lose out compared to pre-match bettors if Italy won.

In short, no matter what occurs in the match, pre-match odds will stay the same. Whatever odds you bet on before the match, you’ll be paid out on if the bet wins.

Live Bets on Ice Hockey

Live betting takes place during the game. As soon as the puck drops, you can place bets on the live odds Parimatch display for users.

Live betting is slightly different from pre-match betting as you are basing your analysis on the game being played out in front of you. While historical statistics and recent performance can give you a strong indicator of how the game will be played, live betting requires that you respond to what is happening in the rink in real-time.

Unlike pre-match betting, live betting odds change throughout the game, responding to what is occurring on the ice. For example, if a player is substituted, the odds of that team winning may go up as the implied probability of a victory goes down. Imagine that you are watching a match where the key forward gets injured. This means that the team is likely to score fewer goals than they would have previously. In response to this, the odds on totals bets would change to reflect this. Higher totals would now have higher odds as the possibility of a large number of goals being scored decreases when the top forward is replaced by a lesser goal scorer.

In this sense, the key to live betting is to work out what might happen just before it happens. That way you can jump on good odds before they change. For example, if you are watching a team that is great at Power Plays playing an oppositional team that’s fouling frequently, you can imagine that goals would be scored in the time that a man is in the sin bin. Say that Team A has scored 3 goals and Team B has scored 1, and there is a lot of foul play from Team B with two periods of play left to go, more goals will likely be scored. In this sense, you want to bet on a totals bet of over 4.5 or over 5.5 before those goals are scored to capitalise on the best odds.

How to Make a Bet on Ice Hockey on Parimatch

Parimatch dedicates itself to provide the utmost simplicity on the betting app, to ensure that users have zero difficulties when placing ice hockey bets. Thanks to the intuitive dashboard and simple payments options, you can place ice hockey bets in minutes. Using our simple navigational menus, you can browse our vast array of ice hockey bets, and find a wealth of international and national tournaments, leagues, and cups, directly from your smart device.

If you are already familiar with Parimatch’s sports betting application, you will have no trouble navigating to the ice hockey bets and placing a hassle-free wager. If you need a few quick pointers, here is a simple guide to lead you to live and pre-match ice hockey bets:

  1. Sign up to the Parimatch platform by clicking the yellow “Sign Up” button in the top right-hand corner of the page. Follow the simple instructions to complete the registration process.
  2. Deposit funds to start betting using M-Pesa or Tigo-Pesa.
  3. Decide whether you would like to place pre-match bets or live wager. For pre-match bets, go to “Sport” in the menu. For live betting, select “Live”.
  4. You will find a list of sports on the next page. Popular leagues will be displayed after you click “Ice Hockey”. If you can’t find the league you are looking for, use filters.
  5. The following page will display all the available ice hockey games in that competition for you to place a bet on. Find the match you would like to place a wager on.
  6. Click the title of the match you are interested in to go to the game’s page.
  7. On the game’s page, you will find all the different types of bets you can place on the match, from totals bets to Draw No Bet to handicap bets. Find the betting option you are seeking and click the prediction you would like to make. You will see the box turn highlighted and a number will appear in the betslip tab.
  8. If you have finished placing bets, head to the betslip to finalise your bets.
  9. In the betslip, check that your bet is correct and add your stake into the respective box. Click “Place bet” to finalise. You’re ready to go!
  10. If you would like to place multiple bets, repeat steps 3-9 for as many bets as you would like to place. Once you have finished, head to the betslip.
  11. You can place either parlay (accumulator) or system bets on the Parimatch app. Select “Parlay” or “System” in the top tabs in the betslip.
  12. For parlay bets, check all the bets are correct. Scroll to the bottom, add your stake in the box and click “Place bet” to finalize your bets.
  13. To place system bets, click the “System” tab in the top right of the bet slip. Check all the bets are correct and click on the dropdown menu to choose the system you would like to use. Next, add your stake in the box and press “Place bet” to finalize your bets.

Summary

Parimatch is dedicated to ensuring all our users have access to the widest range of sporting events to bet on. This is why the Parimatch platform is stuffed full of niche sports like ice hockey. While not as popular as football, ice hockey still plays a key role in the global sporting platform, with fans and popular teams spreading across North America and Europe.

If you’re an ice hockey fan, you are in luck. Parimatch offers a diverse range of betting options on all the top ice hockey leagues, such as the NHL and KHL, and on ice hockey tournaments and competitions worldwide, such as the Ice Hockey World Championship.

Whatever your betting style, Parimatch sports betting platform caters to all kinds of ice hockey bets, from simple bets – like “Both teams to score’, odds/evens, and moneyline bets – through to more complex betting strategies for advanced punters – like totals betting, handicap wagers, and correct score bets.

In short, if you’re an ice hockey fan looking to place hassle-free bets on global ice hockey events from your smart device, Parimatch is Tanzania’s number one sports betting app with all the ice hockey availability you could dream of! Sign up to the Parimatch sports betting app for free today and enjoy wagering against all your favourite ice hockey events.

FAQ

How to bet on ice hockey?

To bet on ice hockey using Parimatch, this is what you do;

  • Register to join Parimatch and deposit money to your account
  • On your account dashboard, decide whether you want to make a pre-match bet (via the “Sport” menu) or a live bet (via the “Live” menu).
  • After selecting the menu options, you will be presented with a selection of sports, choose Ice Hockey and use the filter options to pick the league you want.
  • Next, pick the game you want from the list of available ice hockey games you will be redirected to.
  • Choose the match title you want to be redirected to the game’s page.
  • For each bet, you want to place, on the game’s page, pick the betting option you want (this can be anything from total bets to draw no bets).
  • Click on the prediction you want to make to prompt a bet slip tab box to appear with a number. Once done placing your bets, complete the bets by checking that your bets are correct, add the stakes to each box, and click “Place bet” to complete the process.

Is hockey hard to bet on?

Hockey can be a little tricky to bet on. This is because it is not one of the most popularly betting sports so there is limited information on betting for it. However, with a platform like Parimatch, this process can be a little simpler when you follow the betting tips prescribed.

Is NHL easy to bet on?

The NHL is relatively easier to bet on. Since the game is not as competitive as football or basketball, you have an easier chance of winning. But, the market may not be as efficient for NHL as other popular leagues, which sort of creates a huddle for a bettor.

Where can I bet on NHL games?

You can conveniently bet on NHL games via Parimatch. With this platform, you have access to bet on countless sports and leagues from around the world.

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