Vancouver Canucks Betting Options

The Vancouver Canucks have been a part of life in British Columbia since 1970. Betting on the Nucks, however, has only been possible since 2021. 

In that year, Canadian provincial lotteries gained the ability to offer single game wagering. Thanks to Parliament’s passage of C-15, the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC) began offering bets on the Canucks and other sporting events inside and outside of Canada in August 2021. 

So far, the powers that be in BC have not seen fit to allow a competitive sports betting market, like the one currently implemented in Ontario, to enter the province. For now, your only option for betting the Nucks is PlayNow, the app owned and operated by BCLC.

It’s better than nothing, though. So, below is a complete chronicle of the opportunities and options you have available for betting on the Vancouver Canucks.

Tonight’s Canucks puck line

Canucks Stanley Cup odds

Best apps to bet the Vancouver Canucks in Ontario

Now, although Ontario is not close to British Columbia, it’s not always assured that you, the Vancouver Canuck bettor and fan, will be confined to the western coast. Additionally, although we don’t have any immediate information, there is still a nonzero chance that the BCLC will open its market for commercial sportsbooks. So, in that vein, here are our picks for the top sportsbook apps in Ontario – ones that are quite likely to join if a market in British Columbia makes the move.

Caesars Sportsbook

Caesars Sportsbook is underway as both a retail and online provider in Ontario. Caesars Sportsbook is the representative app for the same-named casino giant and has taken the world by storm in the past few years.

Caesars is one of the better places to go if you want to live stream the games you’re betting. There is something to be said for keeping a close eye on your investments, and the live streaming suite at Caesars allows you to do so with ease.

Caesars is also a hub for same game parlays. If you want to make a parlay but want to confine all of your legs to the Canucks game, you will find plenty of options with Caesars.

The third aspect of note with Caesars is its simplicity and understanding for the beginner sports bettor. If you have never placed a wager before, Caesars could be a great choice for you because it is easy to navigate and comes with plenty of support options. Sports betting can be overwhelming in the early go, and you’ve got enough to worry about without having to fight your way through an app.

BetMGM Sportsbook

BetMGM Sportsbook unsurprisingly represents MGM Resorts, one of the world’s largest casino companies. It has been active in Ontario since the very first permitted date of service in April 2022.

BetMGM excels in several areas and is a wonderful app overall. The first thing you’ll notice when you visit is the sheer number of markets that are available. In addition to bet markets for the Canucks and all the rest of the major professional sports leagues, you’ll find ways to bet on esoteric sports like water polo, snooker, and Gaelic sports.

BetMGM Sportsbook also permits you to move around pieces of your wagers in a manner unlike most other apps. The Edit My Bet feature, which triggers when you become eligible for the Cash Out option, allows you to add, subtract, or change elements of your bet. You can even increase your stake on the wager, if you like.

Thirdly, BetMGM is a great home for parlay bettors. Thanks to its Easy Parlay Builder, BetMGM allows you to move between betting types and betting markets with only a few pushes of buttons. Gone are the days of sifting through multiple markets in search of disparate legs.

BetRivers Sportsbook

BetRivers Sportsbook is one of the usual suspects when it comes to North American sports betting. However, it may not be a familiar name to many British Columbians because of its geographic epicentre. BetRivers is the sportsbook brand for Rush Street Interactive, a somewhat-regional casino company that primarily owns casinos in the New England and midwestern portions of the United States. 

BetRivers is its calling card to the world – hence, it is one of the many apps in Ontario. However, don’t let BetRivers simply fade into the crowd for you. It is also one of the best places to get competitive odds for betting. If you are in Ontario and looking for a great deal, you may find yourself gravitating towards BetRivers.

BetRivers is also better about keeping you informed than most other apps. It offers each player access to a statistics hub, an informational nexus where all relevant information about the bet(s) you want to make are compiled. Instead of having to hunt down all the data you need to make a decision about your wagers, BetRivers has everything in one place.

Once you’re ready to bet, you can watch the game in progress through BetRivers’ fabulous live streaming suite. Keep tabs on the game and watch your betslip with ease through this feature. If you want, you can even look for live betting options while you watch.

Bet365 Sportsbook

Bet365 Sportsbook is one of the most experienced sportsbooks in all of sports betting. It has racked up tons of success throughout its many years in Europe. 

As a result, almost any bet is possible with bet365. It is unlikely that any suggested wager would flummox the bet365 machine.

Bet365 is also the best place to go for live streaming and, possibly, live betting, too. You can settle in and relax while watching any game you have bet, and you can make some additional moves if you deem it appropriate.

Finally, bet365 shines in an area that mostly goes under the radar – its customer service. Rather than wringing your hands about the calamity befalling your bankroll or wagers, you can rest assured that there will always be people standing by.

DraftKings Sportsbook

The first on the list is first on many lists. DraftKings Sportsbook is one of the best sportsbooks to arise as a powerhouse in the last few years. The DFS titan’s activities have made the company a household name, and its sportsbook app doesn’t disappoint.

The first thing to notice about the DraftKings app is its betting carousel. This revolving feature suggests bets to you that fit your stated preferences and history on the app. The bets that the carousel suggests are not mandatory, but they are likely to be of interest to you. Furthermore, since every player is different, the recommendations are tailored to you alone, creating a “custom” feel about your time on the app. 

Another feature that you can find without much difficulty is the DraftKings Parlay Builder. Instead of having to search through pages upon pages of material, you can flip between different bets and different sports with only a button press or two.

Finally, you can experience one of the few times that sports bettors are actually competing with one another. The betting pools function requests that players make a series of sports decisions and, based upon their results, places them on a leaderboard. Top finishers receive cash prizes and/or other goodies.

Betting on the Vancouver Canucks with PlayNow

Now that we’ve provided some motivation to travel to Ontario, let’s discuss the option you have closer to home. After all, you don’t want to have to get on a plane to bet on the Vancouver Canucks every time. By law, each provincial gambling commission has the ability to determine the scope of wagering, and they don’t have to offer any kind of open market to mirror the experience in Ontario. For now, they are sticking with PlayNow. 

PlayNow first appeared in British Columbia in 2013. It has remained the sportsbook of choice for many years because of the BCLC’s ownership of it. 

The good news is that BCLC has taken pains to assure customers are not being radically shortchanged by its monopolistic hierarchy.  The site always has a group of promotions available to the public, regardless of the fact that PlayNow has no legal competition.

PlayNow also offers options that are common in most commercial sportsbooks but tend to be harder to find on government sites. Elements like the Cash Out option or live betting are always present on the app, no matter the time of week.

However, all is not well with PlayNow. In particular, its withdrawal times are particularly slow, since the mere approval of the act takes a few days to process. You may find yourself quite grumpy about the delays, waiting for your money to arrive.

The other issue with PlayNow is its odds. Many of them begin where they should be, but some of the offers on PlayNow are not competitive against the books available in Ontario or the States. If PlayNow wants to stay with the other opponents in the field, its odds are simply going to have to be fairer and charge less vig. 

Ways to Bet the Vancouver Canucks

Now that you have some idea about your choices for betting on the Nucks, it’s time to discuss the different types of wagers that you’ll find. It doesn’t matter whether you are sticking with PlayNow or have made an intrepid pilgrimage to Ontario’s sports betting mecca – you’ll find these same wagering categories when you want to place a bet on a Vancouver Canucks game:

  • Puck line – If you are looking forward to betting on the point spread, the puck line is your best option. It is a type of wagering devised as a way to address the low margins of victory in NHL games. So, in a puck line wager, the line is set at a static 1.5 goals, regardless of each team’s acumen. Then, the sportsbook makes the payout ratios more volatile and fluid in their movements to compensate for the different talent levels.
  • Moneyline – The concept of the moneyline is the simplest in all of sports betting, in that you are only concerned about which team wins the game. The manner in which they prevail is irrelevant, so long as you have the winners chosen. Where confusion appears, however, is the three-digit numbers associated with the moneyline. These numbers are payout ratios, and the exact verbiage of the listing is critical to understand.
  • Three-way moneyline – A three-way moneyline differs from the standard bet in that it offers you the chance to account for the possibility of a tie at the end of regulation. You may bet on either team to win, or you might bet that they will be even – but the bet must settle at the 60-minute mark, rather than the end of the game outright.
  • Totals – Totals, or over/unders, concern themselves with the total number of goals that the Vancouver Canucks and their opponents will score during a single game. The distribution of the goals doesn’t matter, and the winner of the game doesn’t pertain, either. Sportsbooks set their estimated number of goals for each game, and you bet whether the actual answer will be higher or lower than the estimate. 
  • Futures – Futures wagers are the sports betting equivalent of an awards ceremony. You are betting about whether or not a certain player or team will finish as the award recipient or league champion, respectively. Be prepared to see more options for betting than almost any other type of wager, and don’t be surprised if all of them are positive moneylines (meaning negative scores). It’s hard to predict the future.
  • Propositions – Propositions, or “prop bets,” are wagers about events ancillary to the outcome of the game. They often revolve around statistical achievements and milestones that may occur during the game, and they ask bettors to predict whether those milestones will come to pass. In some cases, they may ask the degree to which they’ll come to pass, such as the number of goals a player might score or the number of penalty minutes the Nucks will incur.
  • Live betting – Live betting is a short-duration variant of prop betting that occurs only after the first puck is dropped and the game begins. Also called in-game wagering, live betting asks similar questions to its propositions parent, but on much smaller events. Instead of a question about an entire game or long period of play, you may see options pertaining only to the next few minutes that the game is underway, such as whether or not a team will score during a power play.
  • Parlays – Parlays are combination wagers that smash together several single bets into one conglomerate of a bet. Each of the wagers inside a parlay is known as a leg, and sportsbooks allow anywhere from 2 to 15 legs per parlay. No matter how many legs you place into your parlay, you will have to choose all of them correctly in order to win. A single mistake, even if you correctly predict all of your other legs, results in a lost bet.

Vancouver Canucks sports betting bonuses

In addition to the ways you can bet on the Vancouver Canucks above, you may also encounter different types of sports betting bonuses. These offers are designed to attract and retain your business on an app. In a competitive market like Ontario, bonuses are a critical part of a sportsbook’s marketing strategy and spend. 

With a government-run entity like PlayNow (which does not have to face competition at this time), there is less of an urgency for bonuses, but to its credit, there are a few ways to get some extra dollars for your account. Here are the most common types of bonuses that you may find, be it in British Columbia, Ontario, or somewhere else in the world.

  • No deposit – A no deposit bonus puts site credits or free bets into your account without you surrendering a cent of your own funds. In most cases, these bonuses are rewards for players who go through the registration process. They are a great way for players to give the app a try without any risk whatsoever, and any winnings are theirs to keep. Because no deposit bonuses are almost exclusively reserved for these new player situations, you may see them called a “welcome” bonus.
  • Deposit – Deposit bonuses match some or all of your deposit amount on a given deposit. The exact percentage varies based upon the offer, as does the maximum amount of award that you may receive. Though deposit bonuses are usually reserved for new players – the first deposit onsite is usually the recipient of the most generous offer – they can occur at any time during your membership with a sportsbook app. You may see them termed either “match” or “reload” bonuses, but they work identically to deposit bonuses.
  • Risk-free bets – Risk-free bets are often known as “insurance” or “refund” bonuses because of their mechanism of action. In these scenarios, you place either a specific wager or a group of wagers during a specific time, and any net losses you incur are subject to a refund. The refund percentage and absolute award amount are both explicitly stated in the offer and vary from one offer to another – much like deposit bonuses. Expect to receive your compensation as site credits or free bets, rather than cash.
  • Odds boosts – Odds boosts are extremely common bonuses and usually have multiple options for redemption every day of the week. They increase the payout associated with certain wagers above the marks set by the oddsmakers. Boosts typically add about 25% to payout ratios, though there is quite a bit of variation. The list of odds boosts changes every single day, of course, to accommodate the rotation of new sporting events.
  • Loyalty programs – Loyalty programs are the only type of sportsbook bonus you might find fairly consistently in both in-person and online sportsbooks. They award you points for every dollar that you spend betting on the Canucks (or whomever), and the points accrue on your account. Your points, in turn, are used as your placement marker for the program’s reward tiers. As you ascend, you gain more and more benefits.

With the exception of the last two types of bonuses, you may encounter a curious element of bonuses known as the playthrough or wagering requirement. The playthrough requirement is the number of dollars you must wager (not necessarily lose) in order to receive the value of your site credits or bet vouchers. 

In some cases, a simple single turn of the amount (bet $10 to free $10 of bonus) will satisfy the requirement. However, in other cases, the wagering requirement might be a high multiple of the amount. A high multiple like, say, 20x would mean that you must play 20 times the bonus amount to free it. So, if your credit was worth CAD10, you’d need to be CAD200 to get started.

Betting Smart on the Vancouver Canucks

Now, if you’re already an experienced handicapper, you may not need much handholding when it comes to placing wagers on the Vancouver Canucks. At the very least, you know how to bet, how not to bet, and the likeliest winners for each. This section is not for you. Instead, we want to give beginning sports bettors in British Columbia a bit more of a baseline for strategic planning and keeping their sports betting in a healthy context.

  • Study and research. You have to begin creating your knowledge base. Look deeply into the records of each team, and find out what players are top-rated. Examine the defensive reaction to those top-rated players, and what both sides might be doing to counter the offer. Look out for any external events (like car crashes) that may distract a player’s focus. Check out and note the game conditions, and see if the Canucks play better, worse, or about the same as they do when they play in those conditions.
  • Keep things simple. The last thing to do when you’re just starting out is to engage in a 10-leg same game parlay or some sort of crazy prop bet. Stick to the puck line, moneyline, or totals wagers, and save the rest for the loonies. 
  • Vary your wagering. Don’t always bet on the favourite – favourites lose all the time, especially in a sport where games as 1-margin affairs on the regular. On the other hand, don’t fall in love with the big payouts for the underdogs and start betting them exclusively – they are slated as the less likely to win for good reason most of the time. Instead, look for value or, to put it another way, look for betting options that don’t cost as much as they should.
  • Sports betting money is the lowest priority. The funds you choose for sports betting should be thrown into your budget column after everything else is paid. Even if your kids want you to take them to dinner, that’s a better use of your hard-earned funds than a sports betting wager. At no circumstances should you gamble with food money, gas money, the rent/mortgage, or any other activity that draws your family closer together.

How do British Columbia odds stack up against Vegas odds?

You may wonder if the Vancouver Canucks odds you see with PlayNow are the same as the odds everywhere. In particular, there may be a worry that the odds created by the oddsmakers in Las Vegas are superior to those in British Columbia. 

The short answer is that the odds in British Columbia are going to diverge from the Vegas odds as the game approaches.

For the most part, the odds on PlayNow will begin in the same spot as the odds from most major commercial sportsbooks, be they in the States or in Ontario. Technically, the odds on PlayNow are slightly worse at the outset, but not so far from the standard to make a big difference in your outlook.

Where the odds split apart is the action each game generates as gametime approaches. Because the Canucks are the hometown team, they attract two different types of bettors.

The first type is the fans. People may place wagers on the Nucks to win in games where they are heavy underdogs simply as a means of expressing loyalty to the team. The actual odds on offer might not make a bet on the Canucks prudent, but fandom gives some people more hope than is warranted.

The other type of Canucks bettor in British Columbia is the skilled sports bettor. In this case, the bettor combines their picking system with the greater access they have to Canucks news and information. A talented sports bettor is an expert at finding value, and they are always on the lookout for opportunities. If news of an injury or trade breaks locally first, they may hammer the Canuck odds before the sportsbooks can adjust.

Not every game will feature this kind of movement and divergence, of course. Even casual fans know that there are some easy games and some hard games for any team, and they might simply sit tight with betting if they know that the Nucks are unlikely to win. However, keep an eye on the odds if the Canucks have a good matchup approaching – it’s probably going to be better to wager earlier rather than later.

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