Hockey Betting Guide: How To Bet On Hockey?
With over 2 billion fans around the globe, hockey is one of the most popular sports in the world. Hockey in its various forms – field hockey, ice hockey, etc – is played in over 137 nations.
India, in particular, has a long and glorious association with this exciting team sport. Hockey is a fast-paced game requiring immense pace, stamina, and hand-eye coordination.
At the elite professional levels, hockey games offer nail-biting action, goals, and penalties aplenty. This is why betting on hockey is such a thrilling and rewarding pastime.
With the Hockey World Cups, Olympics, international series, the FIH Pro League, and various professional leagues around the globe, there is no shortage of hockey betting action. And thanks to online betting sites, you can bet online on hockey from anywhere in the world, including from India.
You can find everything you need to know about betting on hockey online, right here at SportsBetting.net.in. We provide the latest updates on hockey news, previews of upcoming tournaments, and the latest hockey betting odds.
Top Hockey Betting Sites
How to Bet on Hockey?
We can break down the process of online hockey betting into the following elementary steps, in logical order:
Step 1: Find a reliable betting site that accepts online hockey bets
Step 2: Head to ‘hockey’ in the list of sports. Select an upcoming/ongoing hockey tournament
Step 3: Choose a hockey betting market with decent odds
Step 4: Place your bets.
That doesn’t sound too hard now, does it? But you probably have a fair few questions about some steps. Find the answers to the most common questions right here.
How to Find the Best Online Betting Sites for Hockey in India?
Due to the enormous popularity of hockey around the globe, plenty of online sports betting sites accept bets on hockey in international tournaments and major domestic leagues.
To find the best sites that offer fair odds and secure payouts, you can always rely on SportsBetting.net.in.
We are constantly hunting the web for trusted hockey betting sites so that you can save your time and money for the best online gambling experience possible. Find the top hockey betting apps on our curated list at the top of this page.
Popular Hockey Betting Markets
The basic structure and rules of hockey are similar to football and ice hockey. The common betting markets in hockey are, in effect, the same as you would find in these other sports:
- Team to Win – you bet on any of the two teams to win the event, or for a draw
- Tournament Winner – you try to predict which team will take the top prize in a tournament
- Goals Scored – try to predict the number of goals a team or player will score
- Exact Score – try to predict the exact outcome of a match in terms of total goals scored
- Live Bets – during a match, you can place bets on which team will score next, which player will score, etc.
Hockey Betting Beginners Guide & Tips
Betting on hockey is a relatively simple affair when compared to some other sports. At its core, hockey is a straightforward game like football. If you score more goals than the opposing team, you win.
Still, if you are a beginner to online betting on hockey, there are a few quirks and factors you have to keep in mind.
We will start with an aspect many betting enthusiasts don’t recognize. Hockey actually means different sports depending on where you live.
If you are interested in knowing the 2023 Men’s FIH Hockey World Cup odds, we have a page where we have analyzed the odds and given the hockey world cup winner prediction in the end.
Field Hockey vs Ice Hockey – What You Need to Know?
The basic game of hockey is quite versatile and can be played on a variety of surfaces. In countries with warmer climates, the summer version called “field hockey” is played.
In countries like India, Pakistan, Australia, England, and South Africa, when people say “hockey”, they mean field hockey.
The winter version of hockey is played predominantly in colder regions like North America, Russia, and Scandinavia. This is called “ice hockey” and it is played using ice skates and a flat disk or “puck” instead of a ball.
When a person in the US or Canada says “hockey,” they are referring to ice hockey. Since the USA is a major online gambling market, if you search for “hockey betting” you are more likely to get information on “ice hockey betting.”
Important Tip: If you want betting odds and news online on the version of the sport popular in India, you have to search for “field hockey” instead of just “hockey.”
What are the Major Hockey Tournaments You Can bet On?
The most popular tournaments in hockey are the ones involving the men’s and women’s national teams. Domestic club championships in hockey powerhouses like the Netherlands, Pakistan, India, and Malaysia also attract a lot of betting enthusiasts.
Men’s FIH Hockey World Cup
It is held every four years, this event brings together the top 16 national teams in world hockey.
Pakistan has the most titles (4), but Germany and Australia have dominated the event in recent decades with two wins apiece. The next world cup is scheduled to take place in India in 2023.
The Olympics
Hockey tournaments are a major attraction at the Summer Olympics. While India holds the record for most gold (8), recent winners are Belgium, Argentina, and Germany. The next edition will be in 2024 in Paris, France.
Commonwealth Games
Australia dominates this event with consecutive golds in the last seven editions between 1998 and 2022. They are also hot favorites for the next title on their home turf in Victoria in 2026.
Sultan Azlan Shah Cup
It is the annual invitational tournament held in Malaysia and is a major event in international hockey. The event involves 6 national teams.
While Australia has dominated over the years with 10 wins, the last two editions were won by South Korea and Malaysia.
When it comes to club hockey events, the Euro Hockey League, the Bundesliga (Germany), and Hoofdklasse (The Netherlands) are the biggest events.
A Quick History of Hockey
Hockey is a sport played between two teams of 11 players on a rectangular field with two goalposts at opposite ends.
The players use elongated curved sticks called hockey sticks to dribble, pass, and shoot a ball. The objective of the game is to shoot more goals than the opposing team.
Various games that resemble hockey were played by many ancient cultures around the world – in Egypt (4000 BC), Ireland (1272 BC), Greece (600 BC), and Mongolia (1000 AD).
The modern format of hockey arose in the 18th and 19th centuries in England. The sport spread to various European countries and also to Asia, Africa, and South America through colonization.
India dominated the sport in the early 20th century, which was an early source of national pride. This is why hockey is widely considered the national sport of India.
