Winnipeg Jets Betting Options

The Winnipeg Jets are the NHL representative for the largest city in Manitoba and, as it happens, the only NHL team in the entire province. Now that single-game sports betting has become legal in Manitoba, the Jets are now the hottest draw for action, too.

Betting on the Jets is a sort of good news/bad news situation. The good news is that you can bet on the team from anywhere in Manitoba that you can find an internet signal. The bad news, however, is that PlayNow, the app operated (in part) by the Western Canada Lottery Corporation, is the only online sportsbook legal to play in Manitoba at this time.

Manitobans don’t just have to sit on their hands, though. Ontario, which is home to Canada’s only commercial sports betting market, is only a few hours’ drive to the east. In addition, there’s no guarantee that the WCLC is planning to remain a monopoly forever. 

Long story short, Winnipeg Jets fans are going to be able to wager on their favourite team for the foreseeable future. Here are the details that will help you do so.

Tonight’s Jets moneyline

Jets Stanley Cup odds

The Winnipeg Jets and the Best Betting Apps

As we mentioned, your only option close to home right now is PlayNow, the app maintained by the provincial lottery. However, you can have some choices if you’re willing to head east into Ontario. There, you will find more than two dozen sportsbooks open for business. Since there are so many and because there’s always a chance that Manitoba might move in a similar direction, here are our picks for the cream of the crop when it comes to sportsbook apps. 

Caesars Sportsbook

Caesars Sportsbook represents the worldwide casino giant of the same name. Unsurprisingly, the app produced by the Roman-themed titan is one of the best on the market. 

Caesars stands out in a very unusual area – its simplicity. Although some apps are frillier and have more bells and whistles than Caesars, the reality is that all of those options are more complex and require more patience to navigate. The simple pages and organization of Caesars makes it an ideal app, especially for beginners.

Caesars Sportsbook also has a fabulous facility for live betting and, in turn, live streaming. The two go hand-in-hand because of how crucial it is to keep abreast of the game as you’re playing. There are always scads of options available whenever any type of game – especially big ones – are underway.

Lastly, Caesars is a wonderful place to go if you prefer to do same game parlays. Rather than bounce around from game to game, you can build your parlay out of options on the same contest. If you don’t want to sweat your parlay all day and just want it to settle, same game parlays can be a key way to do that. They are even (slightly) better on odds.

BetMGM Sportsbook

Like Caesars, BetMGM Sportsbook bears a familiar name to many. It is the sports betting face of MGM Resorts, one of the world’s largest gambling companies. As such, the app itself is one of the finer sports betting apps available today.

The first thing that greets new players to BetMGM is the volume of sports and markets within those sports. There are few sporting events worldwide that you won’t be able to find the option to bet with BetMGM. Needless to say, all Winnipeg Jets games will be prominently available on the app.

BetMGM is also a hub for the parlay bettors out there. Its Easy Parlay Builder allows you, in the construction of your various legs, to move between different sports and different bets with only a button press or two. 

Once your bet is made, you may be able to take advantage of the third point of interest on BetMGM Sportsbook. Its Edit My Bet feature, which activates if your wager becomes eligible for the Cash Out option, allows you to add pieces to your bet, take out certain legs, or swap out the competitors on existing legs. You can even add more money to your wager.

BetRivers Sportsbook

If you’ve never heard of BetRivers before, don’t feel bad. The sportsbook is the product of Rush Street Interactive, which confines most of its activities to the northeastern United States. However, there are a couple of features that make BetRivers worthy of discussion, regardless of how foreign the brand sounds to you.

The first thing to note is how competitive the odds on BetRivers are. If you are in a commercial sportsbook market, it is always a good idea to shop around for the best deal once you’ve decided on a bet that you like. You’d be surprised how often that best deal is available through BetRivers.

BetRivers also makes the process of betting on a Winnipeg Jets game (or any other) much easier by allowing you access to a statistics hub. This utility permits you to compile several relevant stats that, under normal circumstances, might be a pain to track down. BetRivers’ inclusion of this function for every player is one of the more player-friendly actions we’ve seen a major sportsbook undertake.

BetRivers is also a terrific app for streaming the games you’re wanting to monitor. Whether you’re betting a Jets game or have turned your attention elsewhere, you’ll be able to keep an eye out with no trouble whatsoever. BetRivers may not have the same appeal as other apps do, but it should definitely be on your list.

Bet365 Sportsbook

Bet365 Sportsbook may be familiar to you if you’ve placed a sports bet while overseas. The company has been one of the stalwarts in European sports betting for decades. Now, it has brought its venerable brand and heaps of experience to North America.

First things first – bet365 Sportsbook is the place to be if you like live betting. There is no other app on the planet that can touch bet365’s in-game wagering suite. If you plan to do any significant portion of your wagers after the game begins, you’d be foolish to overlook bet365.

Don’t worry that you’re going to flummox bet365 with a succession of quick live bets, either. The long years of experience that bet365 Sportsbook brings to the table means that there is never going to be any bet its runners haven’t seen. Furthermore, you can trust that the odds you’re seeing for all sports – even the stranger ones – are pretty close to fair.

On the off chance that you think something has gone wrong, bet365 has an excellent customer support department. You can get in touch around the clock in multiple ways, including phone, email, and live chat. Sports betting can be stressful, and it’s good to know that you can get help whenever you need it with bet365.

DraftKings Sportsbook

DraftKings is probably not a strange name to you. The company has risen to prominence first with its DFS hosting and – more recently – its full-service gaming suite. There’s also an undeniable amount of “cool” associated with the brand.

However, DraftKings is worth a stop even without all the cachet. Its list of sports and available markets within those sports is one of the longest you will find. You may have come to DraftKings to bet on the Jets, but you may soon find some more esoteric options that strike your fancy, too.

DraftKings also allows you to construct your parlay wagers with ease. Its Parlay Builder greatly simplifies the procedure for adding legs to a parlay by rendering new additions only a button press away. Although parlays are always a long shot to win, DraftKings makes it possible to put them together without much difficulty on that end of the deal.

Finally, DraftKings is likely the best sportsbook if you want to blur the line between online sports betting and real life relationships. For one thing, DraftKings maintains DraftKings Social, its own social media network that allows you to converse with other bettors. DraftKings also offers betting pools, which actually pit your predictions and performance against other players in a free leaderboard competition. Players who score high enough on the leaderboard win cash rewards and prizes. 

Betting the Winnipeg Jets in Manitoba

Now, despite the fact that it is optimal to head to Ontario for the best sportsbooks, bets, and bonuses, the truth of the matter is that it won’t always be feasible. Few people can jump into their cars and drive two hours on the Trans-Canada Highway on a whim. So, you’re going to have to get used to making wagers on PlayNow.

The good news is that instead of making a token effort, the WCLC has worked to make PlayNow a decent app for bettors to use. For one thing, PlayNow has chosen not to adopt a take-it-or-leave-it approach and offers Manitoba players bonus and promotional opportunities. Even some fancier elements, like live betting and the Cash Out option, are readily available through PlayNow.

However, there are still some areas that PlayNow could stand to address. Withdrawal times are the first weak spot. It can take a long time to get your money back from the app, and nobody wants to be waiting by the mailbox for days.

PlayNow should also work on making its odds more competitive. While many of them start out alright, they quickly become poor choices as bets flood to one side or the other. If PlayNow is to compete with the big boys, it’s going to have to address the discrepancies in its lineup of odds.

Types of Bets on the Winnipeg Jets

No matter where you choose to bet on the Jets, you’ll mostly find the same types of wagers. If you’re a seasoned sports bettor, you probably know how most of these work. However, if you are new to the game, you need to understand the meaning behind each of these bet categories. So, here’s a brief primer on them:

  • Puck line – The puck line is the sportsbook’s workaround for betting the point spread on hockey games. Because the point spread relies on the margin of victory, the propensity for NHL games to end with a single goal margin makes it difficult to offer accurate odds. So, the puck line sets the margin at 1.5 goals and changes the potential payouts to reflect the different skill levels of the two teams.
  • Moneyline – The moneyline gets a bad rap because its listing and payout format seems to be a mystery. The negative and positive three-digit numbers seem confusing and not worth the trouble to decipher. However, a moneyline bet is simply a wager on the winner of the game, be it the Jets or their opponents. Everything else is concerned with how much a successful bet gets paid.
  • Three-way moneyline – A variant of the moneyline is usually reserved for soccer, but you’ll see options for it in hockey, too. In this case, you can bet on either team to win, but you can also bet that the game will end in a draw. Now, draws have not been a legitimate outcome in the NHL since the 2000s, but sportsbooks haven’t wanted to surrender this type of wager. So, instead, you are betting on the outcome of the game at the end of regulation. A three-way moneyline is often called a “60-minute bet,” and whatever happens in overtime is irrelevant to its settlement.
  • Totals – Totals bets are better known as the over/under. Even experienced bettors will call it the over/under because of how they work. The sportsbook sets a mark for the combined number of points the teams will collectively score, and you’ll bet whether you believe that the estimated joint points number will be higher (the “over”) or lower (the “under.”) Except in rare cases, you’ll get paid 1:1 minus the vig.
  • Futures – Futures bets take a series of games into account. Usually, these are the wagers about the eventual winner of the Stanley Cup or some of the individual player awards, like the Vezina or the Conn Smythe trophies. Since it’s unlikely that any one team will be a true favourite to win, your job will be to suss out players with a greater chance of success than their rank indicated. 
  • Propositions – Propositions, or prop bets, are wagers that deal with statistics achieved during the course of a Winnipeg Jets game. Usually, a prop bet asks a question that can be answered either as a yes/no or as a multiple choice answer. Whatever the case, your bet serves as your answer to the question. 
  • Live betting – Live betting is a form of prop wagering that takes place only after the first puck drops. Where full prop bets may deal with stats that cover the entire game, live betting, or in-play wagering, only concerns itself with smaller events that take only a few minutes to resolve. You may see questions about the outcome of a period of play, rather than the entire game, or even smaller events that have their answer within sixty seconds.
  • Parlays – Parlays are the result of fusing several wagers into one massive one. The bets can be almost anything from any sport, but the catch is that you must predict everything correctly in order to get paid on a parlay bet. Consequently, parlays are a high-risk, high-reward endeavour that routinely serve as the sportsbook’s biggest revenue center. That’s not to say you shouldn’t do them, but understand the reality of the math underlying them – even the simplest of parlays involving two bets on clear favourites is still bound to be a heavy underdog.

Sportsbook bonus types

Whether you are betting on the Winnipeg Jets in Manitoba or have made the journey east to Ontario, you may encounter bonus and promotional opportunities with various sportsbook apps. These offers may be a bit confusing or difficult to understand at first, but the good news is that they mostly fall into one of five categories. So, here’s a quick rundown on the types of sportsbook bonuses you may see when you visit a Canadian sportsbook app:

  • No deposit – A no deposit bonus is so often reserved for new players that it is sometimes called a “welcome” bonus, even though any bonus offered to new players is technically a welcome bonus. Nevertheless, these promos allow you to “test drive” the app without coming out of your own pocket. As compensation for signing up for an account, the book will award you site credits or bet vouchers so you can make your first wagers free of charge. Any winnings you get from these bets are yours to keep.
  • Deposit – Deposit bonuses add a percentage of sportsbook funds to your deposit amount. The percentage varies, as does the absolute limit on the amount of book funds you can acquire. These are sometimes called “match” bonuses because the sportsbook is matching some of your contribution. If you’re an experienced player, you may see similar bonuses from time to time under the heading of “reload” bonuses.
  • Risk-free wager – A risk-free bet or insurance bonus serves as your hedge against losing one or more of your wagers. If you happen to win the bet or series of bets in the specified time period in question, then you simply keep your winnings. However, if you show a net loss over the period, then the book compensates you with site credits or bet vouchers. The amount of compensation is usually in the same format as the deposit bonus, where there is both a percentage applied to the award and an absolute amount that you can recover.
  • Odds boosts – Odds boosts are a revolving series of wagers that the sportsbook chooses to emphasize for bettors. In order to entice more action, the book gooses the odds on particular wagers by 15% to 35%. The bump is probably not enough to make a separate wager worthwhile on its own, but if you were already leaning in that direction, it can be a nice sweetener to the pot.
  • Loyalty programs – A loyalty, or rewards, program doles out points to you for every dollar that you wager. Points either have one or two uses, depending on the app. The first use is to place you on a tiered prestige system, where members receive an escalating series of benefits, perks, and comps for their loyalty. Points may also serve as legal tender for a special store – one that offers similar benefits and/or the chance to acquire branded swag or trinkets from the sportsbook itself.

Tips for Betting the Winnipeg Jets

It’s one thing to know what options for betting you have. It’s entirely another thing to have a strategy for your wagering. If you’re already a seasoned sports bettor, you’ve probably got a game plan in place. However, if you’re still new to single-game wagering in Manitoba, here are some pointers to help you get closer to success.

  • Simple bets only. Although modern sportsbook apps can provide layers of complexity for your wagers, the truth of the matter is that you should stick to the basic bets until you become more experienced. There is no reason to venture into the waters of parlays or wild propositions until you have some level of mastery over puck lines and moneylines. 
  • Take a step back. You have likely been a Jets fan your entire life, and it may be hard to separate your love for the team from the reality of the team’s outlook. If you want to wager on them, however, it is critical that you take a step back and gain some objectivity about the prospects of a successful wager – even if it means betting against the Jets from time to time.
  • Consider the implications. Think about the meaning behind the lines that you see. For instance, if a Winnipeg Jets game has an over/under of 5.5 or higher, an over bettor will need the teams to combine for at least six goals to win. Even if the Jets or their opponents have a high-powered offence, you have to be realistic about how often NHL games feature six goals or more of scoring. 
  • Don’t bet for the sake of betting. This tip goes hand-in-hand with taking a step back. Don’t force a wager just because it bears the outcome that you want. Don’t bet simply because you need to put money down – make sure that your research and system suggests a bet is a good risk.
  • Never wager with money you cannot lose. This final tip is universal across all types of gambling, not just sports betting. You should never – ever – wager with money that you need for anything. For certain, your utilities and necessities should be off the table, but we even suggest that other luxuries and discretionary spending (like dinners with family or other hobbies) should be paramount to gambling. Your gambling funds should literally not matter to you if they happen to be lost.

PlayNow odds and Vegas odds

When you have only the single choice for sportsbooks in Manitoba – PlayNow – you don’t have the option of shopping for the best odds you can find. You may be wondering if you’d be getting better odds in Ontario or somewhere in the States. For that matter, you may think that there might be some differences between the PlayNow odds and the odds produced in Las Vegas.

The simple answer is that they start in a similar position, but diverge as gametime approaches – particularly with regard to betting on the Winnipeg Jets.

Because bettors in Las Vegas are removed from the local scenes in Manitoba, their information may not be as deep or as timely as the details that you can find. A local news source or simple word-of-mouth may produce movement from Winnipeg-area sharp bettors and move the lines on the game more dramatically than the lines in Vegas. In a sense, the PlayNow lines might be more accurate.

However, you must also temper this suspected accuracy against the fact that large swaths of Winnipeg Jets bettors will ignore our advice above and simply bet on the team out of loyalty. Such wagering will either intensify the movement (if the impulse happens to be correct) or dampen it the wrong direction. So, expect more variation in Manitoba, but understand that it may not be a reflection of actual hard data considerations.

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