Hockey 101
- Calculating the costs of outfitting an NHL player — it’s expensive
- An all-important primer on hockey’s icing and offsides rules
- Clappers, dekes and other hockey slang to know
- Tracking down the hats thrown onto the NHL ice following a hat trick
- Navigating the ice markings on an NHL rink
- Sin bin: How to find your way into the NHL penalty box
- Wanna fight? Some rules and etiquette for fighting in the NHL
- The Sun's Vegas Golden Knights coverage
A couple years before the NHL officially awarded Las Vegas an expansion franchise, Commissioner Gary Bettman cast doubt on the possibility because of his staunch stance against gambling.
Many accused Bettman of hypocrisy and ignorance after he approved an agreement with a daily fantasy sports website but disagreed with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver’s call for legalized sports betting.
“Do you want people at football and basketball games rooting for the spread or rooting for their favorite team,” Bettman told CNN’s Rachel Nichols.
It was an awkward thing to say not only because it’s never been an issue despite sports betting’s massive popularity spike, but also because it’s a problem that Bettman’s sport would almost never face. Unlike its more popular major-sport counterparts, hockey betting isn’t centered on a point spread.
The vast majority of hockey action comes on the money line, where bettors only need to pick the team that wins outright. Hockey money lines work the same as in every other sport.
For example, in Stanley Cup Game 1, the Pittsburgh Penguins were minus-160 favorites at the Westgate Las Vegas Superbook over the Nashville Predators, which came back at plus-150. Those values are based on $100 wagers, meaning a gambler would need to bet $160 to win $100 on the Penguins or wager $100 to win $150 on the Predators.
The 10-cent difference in prices on the two sides is where the house takes it hold, but casinos typically carve out a larger cut. At most other sports books, the Penguins were still minus-160 but the Predators only paid out plus-140.
There are three other common ways to bet hockey other than money lines.
Puck line: Much like baseball’s run line, the puck line always gives the favored team a minus-1.5 spread. Payouts vary, but are usually priced highly towards the underdog plus-1.5 goals because of how many games end with a 1-goal margin. For example, the Predators were minus-230 (risking $230 to win $100) to win or lose by less than 2 goals last night with the Penguins offered at plus-190 (risking $100 to win $190) to win by at least two goals. Puck lines are not very popular, but sometimes utilized as a way to cut down on the price of an exorbitant favorite or a way to use the underdog in a parlay tying other games together.
Over/under totals: This method is just like in any other sport. Oddsmakers set a total number of goals for each game, asking bettors whether the teams will combine to eclipse or fall short of the number. Last night’s over/under in the Stanley Cup was 5.5.
Grand Salami: Popularized at offshore sports books but now available at certain shops in town, notably the Superbook and William Hill, this bet is another over/under but one that combines the scores in every NHL game on any given day. The over/under can reach as high as into the 80s if the entire league is in action. More commonly, there will be four to eight NHL games a day, and the Grand Salami total will range from something like 20 goals to 50 goals. It’s a way for diehard hockey fans to have action on every game, but naturally ceases when the league gets deeper into the playoffs with only one game per day.
Hockey lags far behind the three other major sports in betting volume at sports books. Even sports like soccer and NASCAR draw more dollars than hockey on some weeks.
That’s a fact Bettman has realized, as he somewhat atoned for past comments and sounded more educated on sports betting in an interview with Bloomberg last year.
“Gambling, for us, is probably an entirely different focus than, say, football or basketball, either at the pro or college level,” Bettman said. “We’re about 1 percent of the book. Our game doesn’t lend itself to gambling in the same way football and basketball do.”
And if Bettman can learn a little about sports betting in preparation for the Golden Knights arriving next season, then everyone can.
Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.
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