Bet on Hockey: NHL and ice hockey betting

Check your wagers and the latest hockey odds with online hockey betting from Betway, the home of ice hockey betting in Canada and the global leader in online sports betting. From AHL to the NHL odds, the World Championships to the coveted Stanley Cup, we cover it all, with pre-game and in-play markets so you can play your way!

The NHL is where most people start when they bet on hockey, and with the 2026-27 season dropping the puck on 29 September and an expanded 84-game schedule, there's more of it than ever. Betting on hockey at Betway covers every game from the regular season through the playoffs to the Stanley Cup Final, with the moneyline, puck line and totals on each game and NHL odds that update through the night. Hockey betting online means you can bet on hockey online before the puck drops or in-play once it has, and ice hockey odds for the DEL, SHL, Liiga, Champions Hockey League and PWHL sit alongside the NHL for anyone who wants to bet on ice hockey beyond North America.

How to read ice hockey odds

If you’re ready to share in the thrill of the game but the lists of numbers are putting you off, understanding how ice hockey odds work is the best place to start. Luckily, there are a few basic formats and once you understand those, you’ll be ready to place your bets.

Most sportsbooks use decimal odds, which lay out how much you would win for every $1 you wager, with your initial stake included. 

For example, if you put $1 on the Maple Leafs at 2.5 odds and won, you would walk away with $2.50. That’s your $1 original bet plus $1.50 profit. If you put $10 down against 15.0 odds, you would walk away with $150 – that is, $140 in profit. 

You'll also see American odds on North American sportsbooks. A minus number is the favourite and tells you how much you'd stake to win $100, so -150 (1.67) means $150 to win $100, while a plus number is the underdog and shows the profit on a $100 stake, so +130 (2.30) returns $130 in profit. The price is the same either way; only the format changes, and every figure on this page is illustrative rather than a live line.

Check out our guide to decimal odds for more tips!

If you're wondering how to bet on hockey, the process is short: browse the hockey markets, select your pick, enter your stake in the bet slip and confirm. You can do that pre-game or in-play, and the steps are the same whether it's an NHL game or a Liiga fixture on a Tuesday afternoon.

NHL in-play betting: How to bet on hockey live

With Betway, the fun doesn’t have to end once the puck’s been dropped; you can keep betting while the action unfolds with ice hockey odds changing in real-time. Put all your skills to the test and enjoy the actions as it unfolds.

Live betting on an NHL game means the moneyline, puck line and totals are repriced after every goal, power play and penalty kill, so a favourite that opened at -140 (1.71) can be an underdog by the second intermission if they fall behind early. Period betting lets you bet on the second or third period on its own, and game lines pause briefly while a goal is under review before reopening at a new price.

Popular types of hockey bets explained

Whether you prefer a straightforward game win/lose bet or getting to grips with something a bit more strategic, there are loads of different types of ice hockey betting markets out there for you to choose. Two of the most popular online ice hockey betting types are puckline or over/under totals. The simplest of all is the moneyline, a straight pick on which team wins the game, with a favourite at, say, -140 (1.71) and the underdog at +120 (2.20).

Ready to hit the big leagues? Check out our guide on how to bet on the NHL for more tips.

Puckline

If you’ve heard of point spread betting in other sports, puckline is most similar to that; you’re not only betting that a certain team will win the game, but that they’ll win or lose by a specific number of goals. 

For example, say you wager on the Canucks with a puckline bet of -1.5. In this case, the team would have to win the game by at least two goals in order for your bet to pay out – if they win by one goal, they haven’t covered the spread and your bet would be lost.

Alternatively, if you wagered on the Canucks with a puckline bet of +1.5, they can either win the game or lose by only one goal for your bet to win! 

Puckline bets can enhance the experience of betting on your favourites or underdogs, but they are more complex than other bets and can come with higher risk. The puck line is almost always set at 1.5 goals, so the price does the work: the favourite at -1.5 might be +170 (2.70), while the underdog at +1.5 sits around -200 (1.50), the usual handicap betting trade-off.

Over/under points (Totals)

If you prefer a totally straightforward bet, over/under points might be the market for you. The sportsbook will set a total number of points for both teams to score in the game combined and you decide whether you think they’ll score greater or fewer points than that line.

For example, if the line is 6.5 and you wager on the over, you’re betting that both teams combined will score at least 7 points in the game. If you bet on the under, you’re betting that both teams combined will score 6 or fewer points.

This can be the perfect bet if you’re not overly invested in a particular team in the game, or if you prefer the strategy of betting on the overall game dynamics.

NHL prop bets

Want to up the excitement even more? Props betting allows you to put your wager against specific events throughout the game, that may or may not impact the overall score. There are three main types of events you can place a props bet against:

• Individual players – support your favourite by betting on how many goals, assists or shots they make.
• Full team – pick one of the two teams on the ice and bet on how many goals they’ll score or how many penalties they’ll commit collectively. 
• The game itself – bet on who’ll score first, the total number of power plays or how many goals will be scored in the first period.

Naturally, there is a higher level of risk with this type of bet, but a canny bettor can apply strategy to make the most of the opportunities offered. Player props such as shots on goal and anytime goalscorer are the busiest of the NHL prop markets.

NHL futures and Stanley Cup odds

Futures are bets on outcomes decided over a whole season rather than a single game, and the Stanley Cup winner market is the big one. You can place a futures bet on the Stanley Cup at the start of the NHL season and follow it all the way to the Final, with the odds shifting as performance, injuries and trades change the picture: a contender that opens at +800 (9.00) in October can be half that price by the trade deadline. Other NHL futures typically cover conference and division winners.

The Carolina Hurricanes lifted the 2026 Stanley Cup, beating the Vegas Golden Knights in six games, and the 2026-27 race starts from scratch on opening night at the end of September.

NHL betting sites: What to look for

Search for NHL betting Canada-wide and you'll find no shortage of noise, so it helps to know what actually separates the best hockey betting sites from the rest. Licensing comes first: Betway is a licensed and regulated online sportsbook, so players of legal age in their province are placing their hockey bets with a regulated sportsbook. After that, compare the depth of the game lines (moneyline, puck line, totals, props and futures on every NHL game, not just the marquee ones), how quickly in-play odds reprice, and whether deposit limits and self-exclusion are easy to find. NHL betting sites vary a lot on those points. Whichever you pick, set a budget for the season, stick to it, and don't chase a losing week.

Can I use the Betway app to place ice hockey bets?

Stay ahead of the game with the Betway Sports app! You’ll find live hockey betting, real-time updates to ice hockey odds, and exclusive offers all right at your fingertips. Download it now from the Play Store or the App Store.