NHL's Exponential Growth And Popularity Helping Betting Handle Grow

LAS VEGAS -- Just two months into the season, the NHL's popularity has ancillary components thriving - including sports betting.

The league set record numbers with attendance last season, with the popularity of it growing exponentially worldwide.

Per SoundOfHockey.com, the league’s average attendance this season near the quarter-pole is up 1.5% compared to last season, sitting at 17,225.

It's not surprising, as the elite stars of the NHL knew the importance of this season, and how everyone needed to capitalize on last year's growth.

"Every single one of us that's here, we all want the game to grow," Oilers star Leon Draisaitl said in September during the NHL/NHLPA Media Tour. "We all want it. You guys write articles for it to grow and get it out there, and we play to make more money one day, hopefully for the generations after us. But I think we're all in the same boat in terms of wanting the game to become bigger and more popular and more revenue and all these things. Of course, it's on all of us to do that together and keep pushing it forward, where it gets to a point where you're like wow this is a worldwide popular known sport."

And as the brand continues to grow, so do the betting numbers in Las Vegas.

Westgate Superbook vice president of risk management Jeff Sherman said his property's NHL handle is up 18%, through Wednesday, from where it was last year.

"Everything is on an upward trajectory, it just continues to grow year after year," Sherman said. "I think it's a combination of all the factors. I think it's awareness. The sport being more available on TV and you have all these different streaming methods now ... legality of sports gambling."

Sherman said as outside states continue to legalize sports betting, and networks continue to add betting prices to their on-screen graphics, an in-your-face marketing approach has not only gravitated to bettors who may have never gambled on hockey, but has helped educate them on how to bet the sport.

"You look back five years ago and basically the way to bet hockey, with the team winning with a moneyline, a lot of people didn't understand how moneylines work," Sherman said. "Now you see it on all the major TV networks where they're displaying the moneyline pricing of the game. Just the overall presence of it out there."

Sherman said professional betting groups, known as "the sharps," have also helped increase daily handle, including wagers on puck-line bets, totals and first-period totals.

Rather than paying a bigger price on heavy favorites, some bettors will play the puck-line, meaning the favored team must win by two goals, in rare instances two.

From a local standpoint, when the Vegas Golden Knights are playing, Sherman said the Westgate will offer "player props," a popular feature that allows bettors to wager on a player's performance in the game.

"Our handle is increasing on that, so there's definitely an interest level on that," Sherman said. "There's a lot of other operators that have all the third-party automation for props and such. But with our manual process here, with us just having Nevada, we just do props on Knights games."

First-period totals have been a sharp-dominated market, he added, along with sides and totals. He also said that sharps used to take the goal and a half on the puck line, while the public would get sucked into laying the favorite. But it's shifted recently, with sharps now jumping in on the favorite laying a goal and a half.

"They go through cycles," Sherman said. "Some of these sharps that we got playing, some of them have a period they do well, and a period they don't. Overall, I wouldn't say their results are any different than any other year. It's pretty much cyclical."

Through Wednesday, there were three teams as single-digit favorites to win the Stanley Cup - Edmonton, Carolina and Dallas all listed to 8-to-1. The Oilers started the season as the only team with single-digit odds to hoist the Cup.

The two biggest moves since the season started have been Minnesota and Washington.

The Wild were 50-to-1 when the campaign began, but the betting market has brought those odds down to 16-to-1. The Capitals opened at 100-1 and are now down to 30-1.