Online Hockey Betting
Field Hockey is a popular sport in commonwealth countries. Played in schools, clubs and at national level, the sport has been gaining momentum for the past few decades. While it may not be as popular as Ice Hockey, it does have a growing fan base and offers up some exciting online betting opportunities. Hockey betting can be a great way to expand your betting base especially during the Olympics when teams from all over the world compete for the ultimate bragging rights. In the notes below, we are going to take a look at how hockey betting works and what types of bets can be placed online.
The Hockey World League
In the world of online hockey betting, most of the bets will be placed on Hockey World League games. The World League is global hockey tournament consisting of four individual rounds. Played over the span of two years, the winners of the prestigious tournament automatically qualify for the Hockey World Cup as well as the Olympics. Hockey betting reaches its peak during the Olympics. During this time, all local online betting websites offer Olympic hockey bets on every match.
Hockey in the Olympics
The recent 2016 Rio Olympic Games saw an increased number of punters checking out the sports betting odds for hockey. Bets were placed on winner of the gold, silver and bronze medal. In 2016, Argentina beat Belgium to claim the gold in the men’s competition while Germany defeated the Netherlands to claim the bronze. Aside from the Olympics, the next biggest competition in field hockey is the World Cup. Held every four years, the Hockey World Cup sees 16 nations competing for the title of World Champions.
The Hockey Championships
Local sports betting websites will also offer online hockey bets on the Hockey Championships. This is a biannual event where teams from around the world compete for a single trophy as well as bragging rights. Australia have dominated the tournament for the last 20 years winning the trophy 14 times with 2016 being their most recent win. With online hockey betting, punters can place bets on individual matches, tournaments or championships. Some of the most popular hockey bets include:
Types of Online Hockey Bets
- Match bets – This is the most basic of all hockey bets. In this type of fixed odds betting, punters simply predict the winner of a particular match.
- Tournament bets – Future bets such as tournament bets generally offer the best sports betting odds. This is because they can be placed months in advance. Tournament bets involve predicting the winner of the entire event.
- Over under bets – Also known as totals betting, this is where the online betting website will set a total which the number of goals scored by both teams in the match. Punters must predict whether the number of goals will be over or under the score predicted.
- Exotic Bets – In hockey, exotic bets can include which team will score the first goal, what the score will be at half time, how many petalites will be awarded and if the number of goals will be odd or even.