Though it may not be popular worldwide, Canadian football has a loyal, passionate, and quite dedicated fan base in its country of origin. The sport has also managed to attract audiences from the USA and even some parts of Europe recently. The success of the CFL has also piqued the curiosity of odds makers and bookies, both online and offline.
Of course, the moment a bookie creates odds on a sport, many people become interested. Demand for CFL betting grows at online and land-based bookies with each passing day. However, many people are new to the sport, and may not fully understand it. In this article, we are going to share the basic things you should know about CFL, before you start betting on the sport.
The Different Wagering Options
The first thing you must understand are the different sports betting and gambling options that you can come across online. No longer are online bookies as simple as they used to be. Nowadays, they let you place a wide variety of wagers, ranging from in-play to future bets. On top of that, there are quite a lot of different prop wagering options, that many newcomers to the practice seem to enjoy quite a bit.
There is also the matter of selecting your deposit option. Online casinos, for example, have embraced quite a few different banking methods in 2024. If you are curious, you can find crypto-based gambling at some of the notable Ethereum casinos in Canada, for example. But, casinos often double as sportsbooks, and even pure bookies have wizened to the use of cryptocurrency.
Though the different wagering options don’t apply solely to CFL bets, it is, none-the-less, worth keeping in mind if you are interested in any form of betting or gambling online. But, what if Canadian Football League wagers are all you want to know about? Well, in that case, you will need to pay close attention to the League itself. Luckily, we are here to help.
CFL vs. NFL
Those who are unaware of Canadian football, nor the existence of CFL, often confuse it for a Canadian branch of the National Football League, that dominates the US’ sports scene. However, this comparison is not quite apt, and may even hit a bit of a sore spot for many fans of Canadian football. In truth, while similarities do exist, the two sports are different.
If you are going to be wagering on the CFL, it is important to understand the differences between the USA’s National Football League, and Canada’s Canadian Football League. However, it is also worth understanding some of the similarities. So, in this section, we are looking at how they are similar, and where they differ.
The main similarity between CFL and NFL is their parent sport. Both games are derived from Rugby, and carry that influence on their sleeve. The most obvious example of this similarity is the objective of both games. In both Canadian and American football, the goal is to take the ball across the field, to the opponent’s end zone, and score a touchdown.
The scoring system in both CFL and NFL is the same as well. A touchdown, for example, nets a team 6 points in both sports. The field goal also is worth the same, at 3 points in both leagues. Finally, in both leagues a team can attempt a free kick for an extra point after a touchdown, or go for a two-point conversion.
These similarities are the primary reason that the NFL and CFL are both incredibly popular in Canada. Not only that, but there have been quite a few excellent Canadian players for the NFL, who started out in the Canadian Football League.
Of course, understanding the similarities is just as important as understanding the differences. For example, the field size in CFL is different from that of the NFL. In Canadian football, the field tends to be 110 yards long and 65 yards wide. Quite bigger than the NFL’s 100 by 53,5 yards. And speaking of the field, the goalposts are different too, with the CFL’s being at the front of the end zone, while the NFL’s are in the back of it.
Similarly, there is a difference in team size as well. A Canadian football team is comprised of twelve players on the field. Fans of the NFL will know that American football teams are made up of eleven players. Of course, since we are on the topic of players, we should also address the goal of the players, that is to score points.
Like NFL, CFL has touchdowns and free kicks. But, how they are utilized can be quite different. For example, in Canadian football, players can kick to the end zone without returning it, in order to score a point. There is no equivalency of this in American football.
Canadian Football Odds
Now that we understand how online betting works, as well as what separates the CFL from its American counterpart, we should end the article on one of the most important aspects of CFL betting; that is understanding the CFL betting odds.
Betting on Canadian football will mostly be done in Canada (as well as some parts of the USA). In other words, most punters will likely face moneyline odds (USA) and decimal odds (European). That is why, focusing on how these two types of odds work is going to be most important.
Moneyline odds are popular in the United States. They rely on presenting positive and negative numbers in the hundreds, and in doing so helping players determine the payout, as well as the favorite vs. underdog dichotomy. For example:
Team A: +320
Team B: -210
Based on these odds, we can determine that Team A (+) is the underdog. In this case “+320” indicates the amount of cash you can expect to win for a wager of CA$100. On the other hand, “-210” indicates how much money you have to wager in order to win 100.
Decimal odds, or European odds, are a bit simpler, as they rely on wagers of CA$1. The decimal in this case indicates the amount of cash you can win if you wager CA$1 on a given team.
