When it comes to betting on sports, fans can choose from a vast selection of sporting activities and teams to back. One less-popular sport in terms of wagering is Canadian Football, but this is not to say that it is a market that should not be explored.
Today’s article focuses on Canadian Football and, more precisely, on the Canadian Football League (CFL), discussing why it is a great option for wagering. In the following lines, you can find a brief summary of the CFL, as well as a handy betting guide on the CFL to help you get started.
About the CFL
The CFL was founded in 1958, which makes it the second oldest professional football league in North America. Ever since its foundation, the league has been popular all over Canada, and it is generally regarded as second only to the NHL. It should be mentioned that the CFL consists of 9 teams.
Contrary to common belief, American Football is not the same as Canadian Football. Whereas it is true that both sports share similarities, there are some key differences between them.
The CFL championship is known as the Grey Cup, and as of 2018, it takes place between June and the beginning of November. To be more precise, the season lasts a total of 21 weeks, and each team plays 18 games (one game every three weeks).
The Grey Cup is broadcast not only in Canada, but all over North America – it is broadcast by three major television companies, which makes it an especially attractive wagering option.
Most common betting options
Without a doubt, prior to making your first CFL bet, you should spend time familiarising yourself with the available betting options. In the following section, we have briefed some of the most common types of CFL bets.
- Point Spread Bet
To many experts, this is the most common type of bet in the CFL. The point spread is offered by bookies when one of the teams is a favourite, and the other is an underdog. Let us imagine that you want to bet on the Montreal Alouettes in the following situation:
Montreal Alouettes vs. Hamilton Tiger-Cats (+6.5)
In this bet, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats are given a point advantage of 6.5 points, which means that the Montreal Alouettes need to win by at least 7 points in order for the bet to win.
- Moneyline Bet
The moneyline is the simplest bet you can place on the CFL. When you place a moneyline bet, you simply back one team to win the game. As mentioned on this Betsson tutorial teams can win the game even by one point.
- Parlay Bet
The parlay is a more complex type of bet, where you can bet on multiple outcomes within the same wager. Crucially, all of the outcomes you have selected need to win in order for the parlay to win. Additionally, as there is a smaller chance to make the right guess on parlays, those bets yield amazing payouts.
CFL betting tips
Sporting Pedia UK would like to conclude our article by providing some basic CFL betting tips to help you as you enjoy your new hobby.
- The weather has an impact
As you probably know, the weather in Canada is strange sometimes – snowstorms have occurred as early as September. What you need to understand is that the weather might have an impact on the performance of both teams. For example, when it winds, players are not as fast as usual, etc.
Naturally, knowing how individual teams perform in certain weather tremendously helps if you are planning to wager. A piece of advice – avoid betting whatsoever if the weather is too unfavourable.
- Pay attention to injury reports
Another thing to take into account is player injuries. Always keep track of injury reports issued by individual teams, as this will help you place more winning bets. For example, when all members of the team’s defence have undergone even minor injuries, they might perform significantly worse than usual.