NHL Betting Sites in AZ

Arizona residents can now make bets on the National Hockey League. Moreover, they should be able to bet on hockey at Gila River Arena, as the venue is eligible for a sports betting license. When it’s all finalized, NHL bettors will have multiple legal and regulated online sportsbooks to place their bets on.

From the preseason to the regular-season game and the Stanley Cup Finals, the NHL will be a very active part of every sportsbook in Arizona. Below we’ll show you how NHL odds work, the various bet types you will come across, and more.

Best NHL betting sites for Arizona

How to sign up for an online sportsbook account

Honestly, you’ll probably be surprised at how easy it is to sign up and start betting at Arizona sportsbooks. Once you reach the new account page of the sportsbook of your choice (via the links above), you’ll be asked to enter your personal information.

Don’t worry, sportsbooks use some of the most advanced security features available today, which will keep all of your information secure. Some of the information that you’ll be asked for will include your name, address, date of birth, driver’s license number, Social Security number, and more.

You’ll be asked to accept the terms and conditions that each site has. We always recommend that you read them before agreeing to a new account. Once you’re past that requirement, you will be able to use your bonus, which might be a deposit-matching bonus or even bonus bets. Each sportsbook will have an enticing offer for you to consider.

Once you’ve made your initial deposit, which can be done in a variety of ways, all of which are outlined in a sportsbook’s terms and conditions, you’ll be able to begin making bets.

How does betting on the NHL work?

While the NHL isn’t the king of sports when it comes to betting (that would be the NFL), it gets plenty of attention all year round as bettors enjoy trying to beat the sportsbooks.

From the preseason to the playoffs and the hoisting of the Stanley Cup, the NHL provides more than enough to keep any sports bettor busy. Below we will discuss the various bet types you’re going to likely encounter while betting on the NHL in Arizona.

Betting the moneyline

The moneyline bet is the easiest for beginning bettors to understand, and it’s the one that requires the least amount of in-depth research (though we do suggest you still do plenty of homework before making any bets). The idea is simple: a sportsbook lists a game between two teams and gives odds for each team. Negative numbers indicate the favorite in the contest, while positive numbers indicate the underdog. Your job, as the bettor, is to choose which team will win. If you’re right, you’ll get paid out based on your moneyline wager and the associated odds. Here’s an example you might see at PointsBet’s Arizona Sportsbook:

• Arizona Coyotes -110
• Detroit Red Wings +120

What we are seeing here is the oddsmakers favor the Coyotes to win this game with the Wings coming in as the underdogs. A wager on Arizona would require $110 to win $100. If you made that bet and they won, then your payout would be $210 — your initial stake plus the winnings.

A $100 bet on the Red Wings would bring back $120 if they won. So the payout on a winning wager would be $220.

Betting the puck line

You’ve no doubt heard the term “point spread” used before. That refers to a specific kind of betting that “evens” the playing field between two teams by awarding points to the underdog. In NHL betting, the point spread is known as the puck line.

Like above, the underdog will be represented with a positive number — this time, it is goals. The favorite has a negative number.  Here’s an example you might see at BetMGM Arizona:

• Arizona Coyotes -1.5 (+185)
• Dallas Stars +1.5 (-225)

Looking at this listing, you’ll see that the Coyotes are favored in the sportsbook to win the game by 1.5 goals or more. The Stars are expected to lose by 1.5 or more.

Your job as the bettor is to decide if you think the Coyotes are going to win by two goals or more, or if Dallas could lose by fewer than two goals or win outright. It’s a lot harder to win by two or more goals than it is to just win outright, which is why you see the Coyotes, despite being the favorites to win the game, have +185 odds.

If Arizona wins, 2-1, then bets on them would be losers because they didn’t cover the spread. If they won, 3-1, then bets would be winners. A bet of $100 would bring back a payout of $285, which includes your $185 in winnings.

For the Stars, they can lose 2-1, and wagers made on them in puck line betting would be winners. If they win outright, they’d also give bets made on them a payout. They have -225 odds (a $225 bet wins you $100) because keeping the game within a single goal in the game of professional hockey increases the Stars’ chances of winning the bet.

You’re probably wondering why the line is 1.5 when you can’t score half a goal in hockey. That’s so the sportsbook can guarantee a winning side in the bet. Since there can’t be a 1.5 score, one team or the other is going to come away from the winner and there will be winning and losing bets, but no “ties” that the book would have to pay back the initial stake on.

Betting the totals

A totals bet is very commonly referred to as an over/under, and it requires a sportsbook to make a listing that features the predicted combined score of the two teams in a single game. Bettors like yourself are tasked with determining if the two teams can score more goals combined, or “over” the predicted amount, or if they will score fewer combined goals, or “under” the predicted amount.

You don’t need to worry about which team is going to win. Just focus on if the two teams combined can score over the predicted amount, or under it.

When looking at the Arizona Coyotes odds at Caesars AZ Sportsbook, you might see a totals bet that looks like this:

• Over 5.5 (-110)
• Under 5.5 (-110)

The sportsbook is once again using that half-point to make sure there aren’t any bets that didn’t equal a win or a loss. If they went with five goals even and the final score ended up 3-2, then there would be no over or under and all of those bets would be considered void and thus have to be paid back.

But if the score is 3-2 with the over/under being at 5.5, then bets on the under would be winners. A winning wager of $110 would pay out $210, the initial stake plus $100 in winnings.

Betting on prop bets

Prop bets are wagers on smaller events within a game or sporting event itself. They can range anywhere from if a game will go into a shootout to an over/under on a certain player’s goals for a game. Some are serious, some are more “fun”. All of them are notoriously hard to predict and even research. Despite that, bettors still place their money down on prop bets at a pretty decent clip, making them one of the more popular bets in the hobby.

Like any of the above bets, prop bets will come with associated odds for the possible outcomes. Remember that negative numbers have a lower risk/reward ratio than positive numbers.

Betting on futures

Futures wagers are exactly what they sound like: You are making a bet based on something that has yet to happen. These bets can usually be placed throughout the entire year and aren’t restricted to the season itself.

You might see futures betting opportunities for the next Stanley Cup winner, or the President’s Trophy winners. These bets can range from team accomplishments to individual accomplishments, such as the Conn Smythe award winner, or the winner of the Vezina trophy.

Futures bets will often start with some pretty long odds, but those will get more precise as the actual event draws closer. Any wager you make will keep the odds that are listed at the time of your bet, so you can take a shot at seeing into the future early on, or you can wait until more information becomes available and the picture is a bit clearer.

What is in-game betting?

The advancement of technology has made it possible for everyday folks to carry very impressive computers right in their pockets at all times. That tech hasn’t bypassed the sports betting industry, which is why online and mobile sportsbooks have become so popular thanks to their ease of use and accessibility.

Part of the excitement over mobile and online sportsbooks has been the introduction of in-game betting, also known as live betting. In-game betting allows you to make prop bets while the action unfolds in the game. Who is going to score the next goal? Will there be a third-period comeback win? Which team will lead after two periods of play? Will there be a short-handed goal in the first period?

NHL live betting requires instantly updatable odds, which is one of the reasons retail sportsbooks just can’t keep up. Online and mobile books, however, can feed real-time odds to users, keeping everything going smooth.

Live betting creates a level of engagement with games and wagering that has never been a part of the hobby before, and bettors are eating it up. If you want to try your hand at it, you should look to the sportsbooks that have stepped up their game in that department.

Both FanDuel Sportsbook and DraftKings Sportsbook have made a name for themselves with easy-to-use apps and sites, great customer service, and well-designed experiences that make in-game betting a breeze with their products. They cut their teeth in the daily fantasy sports markets before making the transition to full-on sportsbooks, so they have always had a hand in feeding instant information to their customers and working with in-game action.

Other popular markets for NHL betting

The beauty of sports betting in Arizona is that there are always going to be things to bet on. Sports are a year-round business, and the hobby of betting on them doesn’t have to stop either.

And when the season rolls around? That’s when the action picks up. Beyond the above-mentioned bet types like moneyline, puck line, totals, and the others, you can come across several others you can place wagers on as well.

Here are a few you might see in your favorite sportsbooks:

• Periods: These are wagers on any specified period and they will be decided based on the goals scored in that period only. This can be a point spread bet or a moneyline bet. Take note that third-period wagers do not include any OT.
• Team to score first: Just like it sounds. You’re betting on which team will score first. These bets do include overtime periods if needed, and as long as a team scores at any point in the game the bets will stand even if the game is not finished.
• Team to score last: Much like the above wager, but this one is for the team that gets the last goal in a game. That doesn’t mean they win, necessarily, just that they score the final goal. Overtime counts in this, but for bets to stand on this one the game has to be completed.
• Highest scoring period: Pick a period, any period. Your goal is to determine which one will produce the most goals. Games have to be completed for this bet to count.
• Race to X goals: A specific number of goals is listed and you determine which of the two teams playing will score than many goals first. There is sometimes a “neither” option on these bets, but if there isn’t and neither team reaches that goal total then all the bets will be voided and the original wagers paid back to the bettors.
• The Grand Salami: This bet features a sportsbook offering up totals, or over/unders, bet for all of the games combined into a single score. So if there are 10 games with 20 teams playing, then it would be the final scores of all of those games tallied up. So, let’s just say it’s a totals bet of 50.5 goals. You have to determine if the 10 games will have final scores that add up to more or less than that predicted number. It’s just like any over/under bet, just at a much larger scale.