Take the toughness and athleticism of the NFL, the passion of college football fans, and the global popularity of soccer, and you have the NHL. You have 225-pound athletes skating into each other at 30 miles per hour, but dexterous enough to still shoot a three-inch puck between a goalie’s legs.
There is no better Winter Olympic event than the hockey tournament, with NHL players from all over the world representing their respective countries. And there is no other annual sporting event that comes close to the nightly intensity of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. If you’ve never placed a hockey bet or had money down on a seventh and deciding game, you are in for a treat.
NHL Season Structure
After a two-week preseason in late September, the NHL drops the puck on a regular season that has 1,271 games. That’s 82 games for each team – 41 at home and 41 on the road.
Each of the NHL’s 31 teams will play either four or five games against each of their division opponents, as well as playing every non-divisional team in their conference a total of three times. The other games on the schedule are a home-and-away two-game set against each team in the other conference. So every regular season, every team will visit every other team at least once.
A total of 16 teams qualify for playoffs, where unlike other sports, each series is a best-of-seven. So by the time a Stanley Cup champion is crowned in June, it’s possible the champion has played an additional 28 games. That is why the Stanley Cup is known as the hardest trophy to win in all of sports.
Where to Bet the NHL in Colorado
Legal sports betting has been live in Colorado since May 1, 2020. And since that date, every sportsbook in the state has been taking NHL bets. With the Colorado Avalanche – winners of two Stanley Cups – calling the state home, NHL betting and Colorado go hand-in-hand.
All brick-and-mortar Colorado sportsbooks are located inside retail casinos. And all retail casinos are located in the mountain towns of Central City, Black Hawk, and Cripple Creek.
The casinos with sportsbooks are:
Black Hawk
- Monarch Casino (BetMonarch)
- Ameristar Casino Black Hawk (Penn National)
- Golden Mardi Gras Casino (DraftKings)
- Isle of Capri Casino (William Hill)
- Red Dolly Casino (Elite Gaming)
- Saratoga Casino (Betfred)
Cripple Creek
- Wildwood Casino (BetWildwood)
- Johnny Nolon’s Casino (ISI)
A drive into the mountains isn’t the most convenient thing when you want to place an NHL bet in the middle of the winter. Fortunately for hockey fans in Colorado, along with the eight retail sportsbooks in the state, there are currently 12 online and mobile sportsbooks that will take your NHL wagers. They are:
- Betfred
- BetMGM
- BetMonarch
- BetRivers
- BetWildwood
- DraftKings
- FanDuel
- FOX Bet
- SBK
- Sky Ute Sportsbook
- theScore Bet
- William Hill
When choosing a sportsbook to handle your NHL betting needs, make sure to look for NHL specific bonus offers. Several different sportsbooks have some good ones.
It’s not uncommon to find a qualifying playoff series bonus that awards per-goal bonuses to anyone who bet over $50 on the series winner. If your team scores 20 goals on its way to the series win, you get an extra $100 ($5 per goal scored).
You can also find NHL odds boosts, parlay insurance, and automatic wins on wagers as soon as your team goes up by two goals. Daily free bets for in-play wagering are also common.
Types of NHL Bets in Colorado
Moneyline: This is the most basic bet in sports, the most basic bet in hockey, and the bet you’re most likely to put down when wagering on the NHL. It’s just a straight win/loss bet that pays on different odds, depending on if you took the favorite or the underdog.
If the odds read +115 on the Avalanche, that means that for every $100 you wager, you will win $115. If the odds have a minus sign, it works the other way.
Puck Line: Unlike football or basketball bets that have shifting point spreads, hockey has what is called the puck line. It works like a spread in that the favorite must win by the amount of the puck line. But it’s also very different in that the puck line is always 1.5. Each bet also comes with its own odds that pay off like a moneyline.
Totals: Also known as an over/under bet, this is simply a bet on the combined score of both teams. You don’t care which team wins. You only care how many goals are scored, and if that total is over or under the posted line.
Proposition Bets: A prop bet is best described as an individual or team bet that takes place inside a game and is not affected by the outcome of the game. Common NHL prop bets include shots on goal, first to score (team and individual), power-play conversions, and most player points.
Futures Bet: A futures bet is a wager on any outcome that won’t be decided until sometime in the future. Team futures bets include playoff appearances, playoff series wins, and the winner of the Stanley Cup.
Live NHL Betting in Colorado
Almost every sportsbook that has opened in Colorado does offer live betting – the placing of wagers on games already in progress, and with changing odds and lines throughout. The high-speed play of hockey makes it a particularly good sport for live wagering. The action is intense, scoring can happen at any moment, and with penalties, power plays, and individual period bets, the wagering options are plentiful.
Live betting best works on a mobile device because of the connection speed required to follow the changing odds. And with an eye on the growing popularity of live betting, the mobile sportsbooks operating in Colorado were all built with fast and flexible platforms to handle the action.
Tips for Betting the NHL in Colorado
In hockey, more than any other sport, the difference between the best team in the league and the worst team in the league is small. It’s how the St. Louis Blues could go from being in dead last in January to Stanley Cup champions in June in 2019.
So always look for undervalued underdogs. Finding the underdogs that are most likely to win is the best way to make a profit with your NHL bets.
To find those underdog gems, study the injuries. Hockey players are as tough as they come, which is one of the reasons injury reports in the sport aren’t talked about nearly like they are in football.
But injuries do take their toll, and especially when teams are turning around and playing on short rest. Even if a player isn’t out but still playing with an injury, it can alter his performance, and ultimately the outcome of the game.
Special teams and goalies deserve your research time. How a team does on the power play, and killing the power play, can tell you the story of the game. Look how a team plays in these situations, and which players they rely on.
Just as you should do with goalies. A hot goalie can completely neutralize a better team. Sometimes betting the hot goalie is all you need.
Things to Avoid When Betting the NHL in Colorado
Never settle on the first line you see. You weren’t lazy when you did your research, don’t be lazy when placing your bet. Line shop, always.
Too many bettors stick with just one sportsbook because it’s easier while failing to find the books that are offering better odds.
Don’t forget about travel and schedule. It’s an obvious thing that teams playing on back-to-back nights are going to struggle more than rested teams.
It’s clear to anyone who has flown that longer trips mean greater fatigue. But most NHL bettors ignore these external factors when placing their bet. Don’t become complacent and do the same thing.
Stay away from heavy favorites. The public likes to bet on first-place teams, so those lines become skewed.
They become way overvalued, meaning that their probability of success never keeps pace with the money you’re losing. Just stay away. In the long run, they aren’t worth your time.
The same goes for parlays. So many NHL games are decided by a single goal, which means that one fluky bounce of the puck can make all the difference. One bad penalty can sink your single-game bet.
Triple that chance when you bet a parlay. Again, just stay away. The sportsbook makes lots of money off parlays, which means the bettor comes out the loser.
FAQ About NHL Betting in Colorado
Who is eligible to open a sportsbook account and place NHL wagers in Colorado?
Anyone who is at least 21 years old can open a sportsbook account in Colorado. But, to legally place NHL bets at a Colorado online or mobile sportsbook, you must be inside the state lines. Colorado residency, however, is not required.
How important is home ice when betting on the NHL?
Home-ice advantage used to be a bigger factor in determining winners than it does now. For example, in the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Washington Capitals lost their first two games at home in round one, but still won the series, and then won the Cup by winning two games on the road in Las Vegas.
In the 2019 Stanley Cup Finals, three of the Blues’ four wins came on the road in Boston, including the 4-1 clinching win in Game 7.