Online Sports Betting In Canada: All You Need To Know
Sports are a major cultural staple for Canadians, and provide the sort of adrenaline rush you get from downhill skiing, or plunging into cool water on a warm day. Plenty of sports fans take it up a level, though, and get those extra kicks with Canada’s trusted, go-to sportsbook with online sports betting at Bodog.
You can get in on the online sports betting action from 18 years of age in Canada. In fact, 65% of Canadians who are permitted to bet on sports will place a bet at an online casino within the next year. Altogether as a nation, we’ve wagered over 15 billion dollars annually on sports betting; so, in such a competitive area, it pays to be the best. And we think that punters should expect the very best: in betting options, in service and the best in the clear, useful and accurate information.
But every now and then we like to step back from the detailed previews and reviews to tell you a bigger story. This one is an origins story. We’ll take you through the fascinating evolution of online sports betting and how Bodog’s unique narrative got us all here in the first place.
Online Sports Betting In Canada: The Lowdown
If you jumped in a time machine and flipped the dial to 1960, you wouldn’t be able to profit from when the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Green Bay Packers in the 28th NFL title game, because sports betting was outlawed in Canada from 1892-1969.
So what happened in 1969 to change that? A federal law called the Criminal Code was adopted, which meant some establishments could conduct sports lotteries, as long as the proceeds went to charity. Eventually, restrictions were lifted, a few amendments were tossed in, and you could make bets on sporting events in the form of a lottery.
Fast forward (or buckle up in your Delorean) to 1997, and the very first online sports betting site was registered in Canada. Sports Interaction was the first legit online betting platform, and they pulled it off by registering their business offshore, which didn’t breach Canada’s relevant Criminal Code. To this day, all online sports betting companies in Canada are registered offshore, including Bodog Casino!
Since the humble beginnings of it all, Canada has had more than its fair share of betting action, and 52% of Canadians from the ages 18-34 were placing bets by 2018 (according to a survey conducted by IpSOS).
It really makes you wonder, which types of bets are all these sports fans placing wagers on?
And that is a question we all want answered. Bodog Casino has online sports betting for practically everything, but some stand out above the rest as a go-to market.
Most Popular Sports To Bet On In Canada
As popular as all major sports are to bet on during their respective seasons, there are some undeniably big hitters that never fail to draw a crowd all year long: the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, and soccer.
Each of these games offers some variation of the most common bet types. Those bets include the point spread (point adjustment), moneyline (outright winner), over/under (total combined score), or futures (the outcome of events in the future).
The best part is that you can place bets on each of these sports all year round thanks to futures betting, but during their on-season and the main events, the action really amps up to a gasping pace.
As the most popular sport to bet on at Bodog, the NFL keeps our hearts pumping with division games, conference games, the playoffs, and of course the Super Bowl.
When you bet on the NHL, it’s not just the Stanley Cup that can bring home the Canadian bacon. Each of the conference and divisional games leading up to it have just as much betting action with your standards as well as props.
For the MLB, the World Series is by far the most popular to bet on, but the Division Series and Championship Series are just as good.
The same type of bets are available for the NBA, and no surprise, the NBA finals are always a huge hit. Having said that, every game leading up to the finals, such as the Conference games, stir up just as much excitement.
Soccer is also a huge betting market all year young. The EPL has some of the most action at Bodog, as well as the Serie A., La Liga, and Bundesliga. Of course, you can always expect the World Cup to be on fire for all types of bets in soccer!
Bodog: The Home Of Canadian Sports Betting
As of today, Bodog Casino is the most trusted online casino in Canada, with a history nearly as exciting as the sports betting services we offer.
Rarely is such a successful venture created from just one mind, but Canada’s own Calvin Ayre, a self-made billionaire born to pig farmers, built Bodog from the ground up, having taught himself network and programming skills to complement his business nous. The complete history of Bodog’s creation spans slowly over many years and many partnerships since 1997, but our first major splash on the international scene was in 2004, with the launch of a poker site and a sports betting conference in Las Vegas.
Believe it or not, here at Bodog, we’ve even put some of our energies into side projects outside of the online sports betting and casine world! Let’s see… a music label, an MMA fighting company, our own take on football called Bodog Lingerie Bowl, and a brand of coffee in the Philippines called Bodog Coffee. Variety: isn’t that life’s spice?
The Bodog brand was growing fast by 2006. The group purchased WWTS from Bill Scott with offices in Antigua, which is still true today. Since then, Bodog has grown exponentially in Canada, and we even sponsor several top-league football clubs in Europe.
Millions of bettors log in every day to bet on sports, and the Bodog brand continues to grow into a household name across the world!
If you’ve never bet on sports at Bodog before, you simply need to create an account, make a deposit, and pick your sport of choice. As soon as your first bet is in, you’ll be a part of Canada’s biggest sports betting party to date – and we’re thrilled to have you on board!