What to Look for When Choosing an NHL Betting Site in Maryland
It used to be that hockey bettors basically only had two or three types of bets they could make on games and were frozen once placed. Now, because of sports betting in Maryland, the way bets can be made are going to change. When online sports betting launches you will be able to place a bet at any time during a game, and payouts can be instant.
So, for starters, any hockey bettor should make themselves familiar with the numerous online NHL online sportsbooks in MD. More and more states are building physical sportsbooks as well, but the easiest way for the hockey bettor to place bets on NHL games in Maryland is on their phone or laptop computer. Any operator worth its salt will have a separate category dedicated to all things NHL, so that's the first thing you want to look for. If the NHL seems just like an afterthought to them, it's best to move on.
Types of Hockey Bets Allowed in MD
When placing a hockey bet, the most popular varieties are the moneyline (winner of the game, no matter how the outcome was attained), puck line (win by two goals) and the over-under. A successful puck line bet will have a bigger payout than a straight moneyline bet, while the over-under (or totals) bet usually will have good payout odds as well. The over-under on most NHL games is between 5 and 6.5 goals.
There are a wide variety of other hockey bets allowed in Maryland, including proposition bets, futures bets, in-game totals bets and several more.
Any NHL betting sites or NFL Betting sites in Maryland we recommend will have been fully vetted for legitimacy and quality in all areas. The BetMGM Maryland sportsbook for example has a great variety of bet options and often give boosts on different parlays.
NHL Betting Lines and Odds
Your options to place bets on NHL games in MD were once very limited. When it came to getting the odds for a game, you usually only had one choice. Today, numerous sportsbooks will have different odds for the same games. You can benefit by comparing MD betting odds across the various sportsbooks.
Let's say one sportsbook such as MD Caesars has the Washington Capitals at -130 to win on the moneyline for a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Bet $130 on the Caps to win and if they do, you win $230 (your $130 back, plus $100). But there might be another sportsbook like Unibet Maryland that posts the hockey odds at -140 for the Caps beating the Leafs on the moneyline. You just got yourself better odds and a better payout for a successful moneyline bet on the Caps.
Bonuses and Rewards from Maryland's NHL Sportsbooks
When online betting sportsbooks launch they will want your business. They really want your business. You benefit by being presented with bonuses and Maryland sportsbook promos, and very often many other perks for being their customers.
The best NHL sportsbooks will offer you a bonus first bet similar to DraftKings Maryland, usually up to $500 but sometimes more. If you lose that first bet, you'll get the money put back into your account to bet most any way you like. Online sportsbooks offer other perks too. Sometimes they'll put a few bucks into your account, just because. Sometimes they'll offer "boosted odds" available only to you, the loyal customer. Sometimes, there will be NHL bonuses not available in other sports.
The bottom line is that the best sports betting sites will do what they can to keep you happy and keep things fun and interesting.
User Interface
If you want to bet real money on NHL games online, it's critical that it be easy for you to do - and safe and reliable. That's why sportsbooks such as FanDuel MD must make the hockey betting experience simple for the user. That means a clean, easy-to-understand user interface on mobile betting apps and desktops.
Nobody wants a slow user interface on an online sportsbook app. The deposit and withdrawal buttons need to be easy to find. It needs to be spelled out clearly when you'll get your money from successful bets. The same when it comes to accepting your money by way of deposit. The best NHL betting sites will have everything easy to understand, especially for the beginner.
Deposits and Withdrawal at MD NHL Betting Sites
The most critical of all aspects for a betting site is to make sure the deposit and withdrawal process is simple to understand and reliable in terms of processing. The best online sportsbooks do this including the PointsBet Maryland sportsbook. In starting the betting process, you set up an account to make deposits from your bank account or other personal financial resources. That money can then be used to place an NHL bet in any of the offered varieties.
If you lose the bet - yeah, the money is gone, property of the online sportsbooks. If you win - huzzah! You can then withdraw the winnings back to your account. Again, the best betting sites will clarify when that money will be deposited back to you. Some online betting sites take longer than others to make payouts, so it's important to know just how long that might be. The best sportsbooks will have an instant payment option, usually for a fee of no more than 1 percent. Otherwise, most betting sites will pay out within 1-3 days.
Customer Support
So, you've got a question for your legal online sports betting site? Maybe you want to know more about the payout methods. Maybe you want to know more about how they set their NHL betting odds, on betting on the NHL in general?
The best Maryland NHL betting sites will have a competent, friendly and responsive customer support team. Whether by email, live chat or by phone, the best hockey betting sites will make it accessible for you, their paying customer, to reach them and get answers to your questions accurately and within a reasonable amount of time. The TwinSpires MD betting site has 24/7 customer support by email or phone. They know that customer support to sports bettors is crucial, so the best sportsbooks will have well-staffed, knowledgeable personnel available at most any hour to address your questions.
NHL Betting Apps
We're a mobile phone world now. Some of the most amazing of all the apps on our phones now are dedicated solely to sports betting.
The sportsbooks we rank in our best betting apps must have good response times and usability. Take for instance the Unibet Maryland betting app which has both an easy-to-use interface and fast load times. We study the NHL app user interface and explain why that is important when placing a bet easily and quickly. It's not just important for the Maryland NHL betting site itself to have a fast, reliable app, but it also is important for those betting on the sport to know of the sites/apps that offer the best NHL betting advice. We've done all the heavy lifting in evaluating those best NHL betting sites and apps.
Is Betting on NHL Games Legal in Maryland?
Betting on the NHL is legal in Maryland. Players must be 21. Bets can be placed at any sanctioned online sportsbook or state-licensed brick-and-mortar sportsbooks and MD casinos.
How to Bet on the NHL Online in Maryland?
In those old days of sports betting, you either had to know the local bookie and do everything in cash or you had to be in Las Vegas. When the Supreme Court legalized sports betting in 2018, a new world opened up to sports bettors in the states that implemented legal online sports betting.
For those who have always loved betting on the NHL, who love looking at NHL betting odds and betting real money, it has been nirvana. Hockey doesn't have perhaps the total number of casual fans as the other three major sports in the U.S., but the passion of the NHL hockey fanbase is off the charts.
As a National Hockey League enthusiast passionate about studying NHL betting odds and making choices with your money from there, there has never been a better time than the present. Getting started with betting on the NHL with an online sportsbook in MD is easy, too.
The first thing you need to do is make a choice. It will ask for some pretty basic personal information, including some financial/banking details. Once successfully signed up - usually in just a matter of minutes - you can make your first deposit and start betting. Remember, any good sportsbook will give you a match of that first deposit/bet should you lose that first bet.
Also, a good book will offer "cash-out" options, whereby maybe you don't want to risk the rest of the game and take some early winnings. Or, if losing a bet on a game already in progress, cut your losses and accept a cash-out offer in that way.
Most Popular NHL Bets
When betting on the NHL in Maryland, the simplest and most popular bet is the straight moneyline wager, which means you're looking for teams to win the game - either in regulation, overtime or shootout. But many others are popular, including parlays (betting on two or more outcomes, be it in a game or across the league with other games or individual/team achievements). For those who just want to bet on which team will win the Stanley Cup, futures bets are available and very popular because they'll have higher payouts on a winner.
Proposition bets are growing in popularity too. Say you want to bet that Alexander Ovechkin will score a goal in that night's Washington Capitals game. There's a bet available for that, called a prop bet.
Puck line bets, or spread bets, are very popular too. A team must win by two goals for you to win on the puck line. Or, not lose by two goals, should you bet on the "reverse puck line." Puck line bets have higher odds and better payouts.
-
![]()
Moneyline Again, with the moneyline bet, you're simply betting on who will win the game. Upsets happen a lot in the NHL, so moneyline bets on the underdog very often are successful and can be quite profitable. -
![]()
NHL Live Betting in MD NHL live betting, or in-game betting, is very popular with fans. The NHL odds can and do change quickly during a game, so the savvy bettor pays attention in real-time and makes wagers based on those ever-changing NHL odds in-game. -
![]()
Parlays Let's say you've got a hunch the Capitals and Maple Leafs will both win their respective NHL games. Let's say you're willing to bet real money that they will. You can bet on both to do so with what's called a parlay bet. Parlay bets are popular with fans because they have higher payout odds for success. It's harder to win a bet on two games instead of one, right? So it makes sense that the payouts would be higher. -
![]()
Puck Line In hockey, the puck line works like a spread in NFL or NBA. Let's say the Tampa Bay Lightning is a -150 favorite on the puck line of 1.5 goals (the spread almost always the number for any NHL game). You need the Bolts to win by two or more goals to successfully win the bet. Let's say the Lightning's opponent for that game is the Capitals, and you bet on them as the underdog on the puck line, at 1.5 goals. You win the bet if not only the Capitals win the game outright, but also if they lose by just one goal. That's called betting on the "reverse puck line." -
![]()
Totals Betting With totals betting, or the over-under, you're betting on how many goals will be scored, combined, by one or both teams in a game. You can bet on how many goals might or might not be scored by one or both teams combined in a period, too. -
![]()
NHL Futures Let's say it's August, but you make a bet on the Carolina Hurricanes to win the next Stanley Cup. You've just made what's called an "NHL futures" bet. NHL futures bets can be made on division and conference champions or for individual player trophies. -
![]()
Prop Bets You're just positive that Steven Stamkos will score a goal in tonight's Tampa Bay Lightning game. That's a prop bet. Any good online sportsbook will have a multitude of prop bets available for any given game. -
![]()
Grand Salami On a given night in the NHL, an over-under bet is often available for the total number of goals scored across all the games. That's called a Grand Salami bet, so study up on those goal-scoring trends.
When Does the NHL Season Start & End?
Typically, the NHL season begins in October and ends in June, concluding with the Stanley Cup finals. The regular season ends in April, with the four-round Stanley Cup playoffs beginning a few days later.
NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs
The most famous and illustrious of all championship trophies, the Stanley Cup is the marquee attraction of the sport. Each player and coach from the winning team gets to have a full day with the Cup at their home, with a full-time NHL person, Phil Pritchard, whose job is to be the "Keeper of the Cup" and travel everywhere with it. Good work if you can get it.
NHL Betting Strategy and Tips for MD Bettors
As someone who likes to place an NHL bet, you are a person who pays attention to the injuries with each team, follows reputable team beat writers on social media, knows when a team might be starting the backup goalie, knows when a team is playing the second of back-to-back games on the road and so on.
Make sure to study the regular-season daily lines and follow team/player trends. As with anything, the more information you have, the better choices you can make..
Pay Attention to Line Matchups
In hockey, forwards come in threes during a game — a left-wing, center and right-wing. That's called a "line." Teams have four lines, and the personnel can and does change often. So, pay attention to those changes. Savvy hockey bettors can make better decisions based on the lines.
Find Bets That Have Value
In general, you want to find the bets that offer the best bang for your buck. That means identifying that hidden gem of an underdog, or maybe the futures bet on a team to win the Cup that just acquired the league's leading scorer and the oddsmakers haven't gotten a chance to change the odds yet. In general, use your best, educated judgments on how to make bets with good payouts at reasonable odds.
Get Familiar With the Schedule
I had a well-known NHL player, a winner of multiple Stanley Cup playoffs, tell me once that "the good teams don't start playing until after Christmas." This is an example of why it's important to know the rhythms of the NHL's regular-season schedule. Make sure you know a team's long road trips and plan some bets accordingly. First games at home after a long road trip are, for whatever reason, also tough for home teams. A desperate team on the playoff bubble toward the end of the season is often a good bet.
Choose Goaltenders That are On a Hot Streak
A hot goalie is a prized thing to hockey bettors. It's just a fact of life that goalies can get hot, and when they are, they have a lot of control over what happens in a hockey game. So, pay attention to who's hot and who's not.
Avoid Unlikely Prop Bets
While it’s always tempting to take big favorites on the moneyline, you don’t want to make a habit of it when betting on baseball. To turn a profit with -110 odds, you need to be correct 52.4% of the time. When you bet -140 or -200 odds on a baseball game, the number is way higher, and just a few losses can put you in a deep hole. Remember, it’s a 162-game season and even the best teams still lose around 55-60 times per year.
What are NHL Power Rankings and How to Use Them?
NHL power rankings are mostly a media creation that simply lists the "hot teams" in the league, but most often are just a reflection of the current standings. Don't pay much attention to them.
Get Started Betting on NHL Games in Maryland
You've got a lot of information now at your fingertips. Now, go out and make some money. Be smart, pay attention to the odds and the lines. Bottom line: have fun with it.
NHL Betting in Maryland FAQ
Author
Adrian Dater writes about the NHL for BetMaryland.com. The longtime NHL writer spent 25 years at The Denver Post, 20 of which as the beat writer of the Colorado Avalanche. He also covered the Avs for BSN Denver and was the lead NHL columnist with Bleacher Report from 2013-16. Dater has written six books, including the best-selling hockey book "Blood Feud: Detroit Red Wings v. Colorado Avalanche, The Inside Story of Pro Sports' Best and Nastiest Rivalry of its Era," and was a regular contributor to Sports Illustrated from 2011-13.
