While we generally think of spring and summer as the best times of year to exercise and play sports outside, that’s not exactly true for professional sports. Sure, most of the baseball season happens in the summer, but that’s the only one of the four major sports leagues with that kind of schedule.
Alongside playing fantasy sports, going to games and following all the news about our favorite teams, betting on sports has become one of the top ways to add to our enjoyment of sports. In North America, this has been helped by the fact that sports betting laws have been developing since 2018. Now, you can legally bet on sports either in person or online in the majority of states in the United States. In Canada, Ontario is leading the way in sports betting with other provinces following close behind.
Since sports betting is still fairly new to many people in both countries, many of us have a lot to learn about sports betting. With that in mind, let’s talk about the top sports to bet on this winter.
Football
The NFL is the most popular betting sport in the United States, and in previous years, the Super Bowl has been the single biggest betting event of the year. This year’s NFL season has gotten off to an exciting start and we’ve got several more months to enjoy. With the Super Bowl not until February 12th, there’s plenty of time to place a futures bet on who you think will win.
There have already been some exciting upsets this season, keeping things very interesting. The average margin of victory is the lowest in NFL history, which means that we’re seeing games that are unbelievably close more often than usual. If that doesn’t make for exciting betting, we don’t know what does!
The college football season is just over half-way through. The next few weeks of the regular season have some of the biggest games of the year and some of the hottest rivalries. The Bowl season is also a great time for sports bettors.
Basketball
The football season has been going on for a while already, but the NBA season only started in October. Lasting from October to April, basketball is one of the best winter betting sports because it lasts all winter. With each team playing 82 games over the course of the regular season, that’s a ton of opportunities to watch and to bet.
Basketball is such a fast-paced and exciting sport that it’s easy to see why it has such a big following. Some of the recently drafted players like LaMelo Ball are demonstrating a brand of talent that promises good things for the future of the game. It’s also a great sport for spread betting because the scores can vary so dramatically from game to game.
Hockey
Just as baseball feels like the ultimate summer sport, hockey feels like the perfect winter sport. The NHL season started on October 7th and the first few weeks have been very enjoyable. A decade ago, you might have been surprised to see hockey on a list of top sports, but the NHL has been rapidly growing in popularity across the United States.
The fanbase might never rival that of Canada, but as new franchises are developed, the sport is entering new markets and new fans are enjoying it. Betting on hockey is a great way for fans new and old to engage even more with the action on the ice.
FIFA World Cup
Soccer isn’t one of the top sports to bet on every winter, but this year it definitely is! The FIFA World Cup starts on November 20th and ends on December 18th. The top 32 teams from around the world will meet in Qatar and fight for the title. Looking at the full schedule for the tournament lets you plan a betting schedule. Like all tournaments, the World Cup is great for parlay betting. It’s always tempting to root for — and bet on — your team. The US and Canada have both qualified this year. The US is in a tough group and it’s very hard to call whether they’ll make it through to the Round of 16. Canada is up against a very strong Belgian team in their group, but they have decent odds of making it through. Beyond the Group stage however, neither team is expected to make it through to the Final.
